The Chimera Windstorm
by BombermanGOLD
Summary: The tale of the meta-human chimera known as Sahara Windstorm growing up in the world of Champions, where superheroes and super-villains thrive. From how she was found to the beginnings of her life and growing nature of her powers, as well as prejudices of having physical mutations, to her solo travels and adventures of trying to make it in this fast-paced and dangerous world.
1. Prologue

_[[This work is based in the setting of the online Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game Champions Online. All characters and (most) locations are fictional. Similarities in real-life names, abilities, locales, organizations, vague references, etc. are __**entirely **__coincidental. Or intended. Special thanks goes to fellow role-player and author modus669 for special endorsement on this piece of work.]]_

PROLOGUE.

The sky in the quiet neighborhood was calm, with few, barely visible clouds rolling through the vast, open air high above the earth. It was dusk, the warm life-giving sun already having set to bring a new day to the other side of the planet. Around the block of the neighborhood in a town in the middle of the area known as Central Texas, there stood a church on the side of a road not unlike any other in many parts of the United States. The area was low-income, if those who visit would guess via the various states of condition each of the houses were. The church, which sat in its lot, surrounded by empty fields which used to have houses flanking each side of the modest building of worship, stood tall amid the test of time with its basic white wood paneling, sloping rooftop with a small steeple at the end of the front of the building, rising up into a sculpture of a cross. It was January 31, 1983.

The pastor, Peter Cosgrove, a Baptist preacher, sat in his workroom: a worn dusty office sparsely decorated in cheap religious memorabilia, save for a small library of books of various subjects about the Christian religion and similar such words of wisdom. The middle-aged man reclined back in his cushioned chair, his mind seemingly elsewhere instead of the task of managing bills ahead of him lay scatted on his desk. A small radio adorns the corner of his desk, the station blaring out the news for the evening in the local area of the town. The weatherman on the radio then pops up, taking the time to introduce himself and reaffirm the forecast for the evening: Clear skies and light winds into the morning, with high temperatures going no more than seventy-five degrees.

The Pastor (known as Pastor Peter to his congregation) nods in approval at what he hears. Monday was uneventful, especially after the heated sermons on family and stability the day before. The African-American man's eyes close for a bit, relaxing in the chair that stood the test of time and various bodies that have sat and relaxed in it before (it was quite old). His thoughts were serene, thinking about the simple pleasures of what the next day might bring. The radio station switches to playing a quiet tune while the pastor slowly starts to drift to sleep.

The outside had other plans, with a loud clap of thunder shattering the peace in the church and Peter's office. The pastor is startled awake by that noise, gathering his thoughts as he looks around him. That could not have been thunder that he heard just now, could it? The weatherman on both the television and radio said it would be clear tonight-

_POW!_

Peter frowns, his war-weary face wrinkling. That second thunder clap was louder than the first, and sounded quite close. Quickly, he gathered himself, grabbing his trusted crutches he had leaned against his old desk before straining himself up out of the chair. He silently cursed to himself when Peter at first did not get a good grip, before correcting himself and stands himself up on his good leg. The other leg was not helping very much, due to being absent at above the knee. There are some things that during the war in Vietnam that the battlefield likes to take as a souvenir. He was one of the lucky ones, however, that the battlefield only took his leg. The pastor was due for a prosthetic in the next year or so, but with the Army health services being the way they are, there was no telling. Still, Peter was tough, as he deftly hobbled out of the office and into the main area of the church.

He looks over to the left and right out of the ornate glass-stained windows as another few large claps of thunder are heard, loud and clear. The lightning accompanied the noise, illuminating the outside in brief, white-hot moments, giving the dimmed interior of the church a haunted feel with the flashes of light going through the windows. Pater hobbled across the open walkway alongside the pews. Another few claps of thunder and more lightning flash through the sky. Not even a few seconds after that last violent outburst from the heavens does it seem like God himself turned on the water faucet in full force, the rain coming down fast and hard, angrily pelting the roof of the church and making it hard to even think with all the noise. Peter goes into the tiny lobby, laying eyes outside of the glass double-doors.

"Oh heavens to mercy it is coming down," Peter speaks to himself as he watches the torrents of rain come down in a blinding fury. "I can't even see more than halfway down the street."

"Of course not, the weatherman lied! You can't predict what God's going to do!" A heavyset African-American woman stands near the doorway that leads to the kitchen, towel in hand, watching her husband and the outside. "Dear Lord almighty, just look at all of that rain coming down outside."

"Ruby," Peter starts, going toward the woman he married two years before. "Were the car windows rolled-up before all of this started? Would hate to have to clean up the mess again like last time when it was really bad outside."

Ruby frowns and shrugs before heading back to the kitchen: "Maybe not the back window. I don't remember right now, I'm trying to clean up for the potluck that's coming up in the next couple of days. You know where that one bowl was at? That large one with the metal-"

Peter nods and waves her off. Ruby's a sweet woman, though a little bit on-edge at times. "Yeah, it should be in the cupboard near the sink. Underneath it, I think." He scoots himself into the kitchen, moving quite fast on the crutches. The thunder and lightning storm pound relentlessly over the church and neighborhood as yet another, this time even louder, clap of thunder echo, causing the lights within the church building to flicker.

"Whoa!" Ruby exclaims as she drops the object she was looking for. The metallic bowl clatters on the ground with a piercing metallic impact. Peter scoots himself toward his wife, setting one of his crutches aside to lean down, quite impressive of him, to help out.

"Hey, I got this."

"Shoot, we need to get out of here, don't we?"

Peter shakes his head: "Not in terrible storm like this! We'll need to wait it out until it's safe to go outside. Don't want to get struck by lightning out here." Peter winces once as he blinks slowly, raising up and picking up his other crutch to hobble out of the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Ruby calls out as Peter hobble-dashes back into the main area, through the pews.

"I'll need to check the radio! Maybe something on there is talking about this freak storm! Could be a tornado, for all we know."

"Oh, Lord, please keep us safe!"

Peter makes it to his office, and quickly looks over at his radio, just as another huge clap of thunder and a bright flash of lightning cause the lights to blink out for a moment. After a moment, everything returns on, though the radio was now off. Peter sniffs once as he examines the old device, pulling back slowly and shaking his head as the smell of burnt circuitry entered his nostrils.

"Just great," he mutters to himself. "We may have to huddle up until it passes over."

Even as the pastor mentions this, the weather only increases in ferocity as the winds howl uncontrollably through the air, creating a sense of dread in Peter. _Perhaps this was an impending tornado? _He would have thought this to himself as he rummages through his desk, grabbing a flashlight. Deciding to go on a single crutch, he hobbles back out into the main area of the church again past the set of pews nearest the pulpit, until the lights go out once again.

"Just what we need, indeed. Thank you, Lord for this flashlight," the pastor chuckles to himself as he turns it on, illuminating the pathway before him. The lightning continues to flash outside in an angry manner, in synch with the explosive claps of thunder that shake the walls and windows of the simple construction of the building. Peter takes a few more hobbled steps, keeping quite steady, when he stops for a moment upon hearing an unusual sound amid the storm. Stopping in place, he quiets his breathing as he strains to listen. The loud thunder makes it very hard to notice, but there was a pounding sound on the glass doors. Not that of hail, but frantic-paced slaps against the glass.

"Ruby! You over there?" Peter calls out, shining the light near the lobby area as he makes his way closer to that part of the church.

"Yeah I'm here!" a voice is heard deeper in the kitchen.

"You alright? I thought I heard some kind of noise or something!"

Ruby's voice is a bit distant-sounding as she responds: "I can't hear much of anything with that loud racket of a storm going on! Shoot, the stupid lights went out, you got the flashlight?!"

"Just a second!" Peter calls out as another huge clap of thunder punctuates the comment, followed by another series of loud pounding noises against the glass doors. For a few breaths, there was silence, aside from the constant downpour of rain hitting the roof and the silent flashes of lightning. Peter goes forth, hobbling into the lobby and looking towards the doors. He raises his flashlight to shine through the double-doors, squinting through the reflected light off of the glass.

Peter's eyes widen as he catches glimpse to something on the other side of the doors. About a foot away from the doors, at the top of the steps and barely covered from the blinding rain making it way through the awning, was what looked to be a mass of blankets of varying dark colors, partially soaked in the rain. The pastor moves against the door, leaning against it, until another bright flash of lighting streaks across the sky, causing the man to squint his eyes, but his head looks toward the street and sees a car peeling away. The vehicle looked to be an old sedan, but it was too dark and the light was inconsistent for Peter to tell of any other markings or even the license plate. He looks further out into the sky, and gives a curious tilt of his head, both in awe and with a bit of fear in him, as he notices most of the lightning was concentrated in one far-off spot in the sky, the majority of the lightning bolts coming down to the center of that particular spot. Thunder explodes through the sky, startling the pastor, along with another peculiar sound coming from the blankets.

Stooping down as best he can with the doors partially open, Peter peers at the blankets and notices the sounds were coming from the blanket, as well as the sound of crying, that of a baby!

His eyes wide with complete shock, and taking one good glance at the violent weather happening around them, Peter wastes little time second-guessing himself as he deftly takes the bundled infant under his arm, grabbing the crutch and heads inside just as another crash of thunder is heard. The poor infant in his arms screams and wails in panic, the little arms stretching out of the blankets, begging for attention and safety. Peter says a few prayers to himself as he goes into the main area of the church, setting down on the soft cushion of the pew, holding the infant as best he can, a mixture of sweat and mist from the rain dotting his face. The baby cries in his arms, though gradually starts to quiet down now that child is out of the elements.

The lights come back on in the church, just as Ruby barges into the auditorium, glancing around until her eyes focus on her husband.

"Peter!" she calls out, stepping around to his side. "What on earth is…" Ruby's words trail off as she looks down at the baby, a newborn with light-brown skin, cries in Peter's arms, legs and arms up and outstretched as the pastor cradles the infant, rocking steadily side-to-side to calm the baby down.

"I… there was a pounding on the front door during the blackout," Peter starts to explain. "I ran up there and, right under that awning under the front door, was this little thing here. I saw a car drive off, but didn't get a good look at it or the driver. Was going mighty fast, I tell you. But this storm…"

"Never mind that!" Ruby snaps. "We need to call someone about this. And get that child out of those blankets, they're wet! I'll run to the kitchen and find some dry towels!"

Peter nods as his wife dashes into the kitchen. _What are the odds of this happening to us? _He thinks to himself as he quickly removes most of the blankets from the crying baby. As he unwraps the brown-skinned infant, Peter notices quickly that it's a girl. Two things immediately stood out as he got most of the blankets out of the way: She had a small fuzz of hair on her head, jet-black. Her ears had an odd point to them on the top, but nothing unusual. What _was _unusual were the eyes. Black people usually did not have bright eye color, but instead of anything under the normal human spectrum of eye-color was that this baby girl's eyes were a bright, vivid purple. This gave Peter a bit of a mild shock, but he settles himself down, until he glances lower near the baby's lower back, close to her bottom, where a two-inch nub of what looks to be a thin tail sways about, sharing the same skin-tone as the girl.

Ruby enters with a fresh set of towels intended for the baby, as she sees the still-seated pastor holding up the baby, now completely visible to her as well. The heavyset woman drops the towels, mouth wide as she sees that little tail from the baby. The infant girl gurgles a few times, making all manner of the usual baby noises, until a series of intense claps of thunder and bright, piercing flashes of lighting echo and reflect around inside of the church, causing the baby to react and scream and cry from the noise. The lights flicker on and off and settle for off, as Ruby goes right up against Peter, huddled near her husband and the baby as the storm roars in intensity, the wind, rain and thunder growing louder, hitting harder, as if threatening to blow over their structure. Peter does his best to hold the infant against him, patting her back and keeping his voice calm, doing his best to coo and calm the baby.

"Shh, don't worry, I have you. Nothing's going to get you in here. Oh Lord, please look after this child, please." Peter continues to pat the baby, being mindful of the small tail of the girl's. Ruby is just staring at the tail, though she looks around and both adults see from the outside windows that there's a bright light showing through. Ruby gets up and goes into the lobby, quite easy to see around due to the brightness of whatever is causing that lightshow.

"What do you see out there?" Peter calls from the pew. He proceeds to keep busy with trying to calm the scared and crying infant girl.

"That's… Peter! There's some large bolt of lightning way ahead over there!"

"What do you mean?"

Ruby's voice stammers a bit, as if she's trying to process what she sees, as she does her best to relate what is going on to Peter. "It's like, a huge, big giant bolt or something is going down a funnel! Like a tornado, but all of it is lightning!"

Peter's eyes widen as he turns his head towards the lobby area: "Say that again?" He cradles the baby as he gathers his crutch, and slowly hobbles towards the lobby to stand alongside Ruby, with the baby in tow, sobbing but no longer making as loud of a fuss.

The couple stare outside at the unnatural lightshow, a mass of lightning bolts swirling off in the distance and down in a bright column, looking as if from a trippy science-fiction show. The scene was quite surreal, though just as Peter and Ruby were making heads-or-tails of what they were looking at, one final gigantic clap of thunder that sounded closer to an explosion is heard, coming from that distance. Peter nearly stumbles, losing his crutch as Ruby takes up the slack, holding her husband up as well as holding the infant between them. Some of the glass in the church crack and break, as well as the thick glass of the entrance doors, though they do not shatter. The baby screams against the adults as the wind howls outside. But just as suddenly as the freak storm appeared, the wind ceases blowing. The rain slows to an immediate trickle and then stops entirely. The thunder and lightning cease all activity. Peter glances up through the cracked doors as he sees the dark clouds immediate break up and part, exposing the night sky to the earth again.

Both of the couple stood in place, dumbfounded at what just happened. The only thing that breaks the silence is the cries of the baby, her little tail moving about. Ruby then takes her turn in holding the baby while Peter regains himself to stand back up with his crutch. She goes back into the main area of the church to pick up the towels she dropped and sets about to wrap up the crying infant with them, doing her best to coo and calm the baby all the while. Peter hobbles beside her, looking over everything in the church and at his wife and the child.

"My God, my God..." is all Peter can say as he surveys some of the glass that broke and some of the pieces now on the carpet. He looks over Ruby, who also has an equally confused expression on her face, as she looks back at the cute baby, who now has stopped crying and looks to slowly be falling asleep. Peter finally smiles at the sight, before glancing down in the pew where he unwrapped the infant of her wet towels, and notices a strange, very ornate-looking bracelet rolled up in the heap.

"What's that?" Ruby asks, cradling the now semi-swaddled infant in her arms, looking at the object Peter picked up.

"No idea… I don't know what _any _of this is, to be, honestly," The pastor frowns, looking over the expensive-looking jewelry. "It just fell out of the blankets she was wrapped up in."

Peter and Ruby then look at the now-sleeping infant girl in Ruby's arms. Both of them stood in silence for quite a while, puzzled at the turn of events neither of them expected for the night, or for the rest of their lives.

The bracelet that Peter is holding onto starts to fade, losing most of it color as it becomes more muted, just as everything returns to what it was not thirty minutes ago: Quiet and serene.

The next day, news reports were feisty and actively talking about the storm from that night, causing a decent amount of property damage. The authorities were stumped as to the cause of the storm, as were the meteorologist. Even more confusing was the fact that in a field about a couple of miles from Peter's church were huge craters, a few of them smoldering. In the center of the general area was one pitch-black crater of scorched earth, seven-feet deep and dangerous for anyone to accidentally step into without slipping and falling in. Most peculiar was that, due to the freak events, out-of-state authorities, as well as strange, spandex-clad men and women, referred to as superheroes, combed the scene and around it, looking for clues as to what transpired. Finding no other evidence, the super-powered individuals went about their business elsewhere. This and the sudden interest of the government in that town sparked loads of speculation about what may have happened: Aliens? Mutants? Bad guys causing trouble? All manner of explanations were being tossed around, but nothing was concrete.

As for Peter and Ruby, the both of them took the infant girl to a nearby clinic, which whisked everyone away to a hospital to check on the child. Tests quickly confirm she is a meta-human, a human with extra-normal traits or characteristics. The couple debated on what to do, though don't get much in words or edge-wise when the state authorities stop by to talk with the couple, informed by the hospital of a new meta-human infant. Some back-and-forth happen, and after some screaming and tears, one of the important-looking men in the suits walk out of the hospital carrying the infant girl in store-bought baby basket, with a nametag attached to it, courtesy of a hard-fought Ruby and Peter: Laura Forrest.


	2. Chapter 1

Two years have passed.

The little meta-human girl known as Laura Forrest, in her second year of life, was now a resident in the local group home. It was larger than most on average compared to most around the country, with all of the trained staff and equipment to handle and care for children between the ages of five to eighteen. However, due to Laura being classified as a mutant (and a first for the medium-sized Texas city), she was labeled as a special case for care under the state. The kindly pastor and his wife still insist on wanting to keep close contact over the girl, despite being denied (under mysterious circumstances) adoption rights for her. However, their presence in the Home was not unwelcome for the staff, as volunteers are needed on a regular basis to give the children there additional guidance and knowledge of the world around them.

And indeed, the world is quite different from the normal one, where during a battle in Europe during World War II, a contingent of Nazi soldiers seeped in the belief of the occult attempted to cast a series of dark spells in order to turn the tide of the war in their favor. What came out of such, however, was nothing short of a mixed miracle: Due to their actions, magical energies long dormant and missing from the world came back, changing the laws of physics, enabling all manner of man or beast to be altered depending on by-chance mutations or their environment around them. Shortly after this incident, the first known cases of humans with extraordinary abilities started to emerge. Some took it upon themselves to abuse their newfound powers, in an attempt to conquer and subjugate their fellow man. Others, doing like those who only had the power of their natural strength, donned costumes to hide their identities, in order to combat those evil doers. The world 'superhero' has been tossed around from time to time, however it was not until then that the definition was given a true meaning. A face, which grew to be a series of faces throughout the world.

But that is merely the backdrop for this story, as the toddler, Laura Forrest, giggles and laughs and runs about in the daycare-like facility, under the watchful eye of the ever-caring pastor Peter, as well as one of the group home administrators, Lindsay Oakley.

"Tell it to me, Miss Oakley," Peter starts off, standing aside of the doorway, looking over at little Laura running about in the play area, knocking over sets of those Lego blocks left and right. The area would seem to be more tailored to kids a couple of years older than she is, however the little energetic girl is keeping quite busy playing with each and every other toy she can get her hands on, despite being the only child in the room. "Will there be anyone to take her in? My wife and I, yes we're not all that well off financially, but so far we've been the only ones who keep applying to adopt Laura, but so far all of our applications for such keep getting rejected. Why is that?"

The slightly heavy-looking Caucasian female with a slightly pronounced southern drawl shifts her weight, looking on at the child and smiling at her, before her expression turns serious when she looks back at Peter. "Pastor, I know. I know that. But it's just for whatever reason the agency does not think you are of a fit-"

Peter frowns and cuts her off: "I've heard that same song and dance a number of times. Listen, I know I'm not messed-up in the head compared to some of my buddies after Vietnam. Ruby can attest to that, as long as I've been with her. What is it that they are afraid of?"

Both Lindsay and Peter look back at the girl, where Laura runs just a little bit too fast with a stuffed animal, slips on some of the Lego bricks and falls on her butt. The adult's eyes widen and Lindsay steps forward about to possibly comfort a crying child, but stops when Laura just gets back up (slowly), lets out a happy giggle, and darts off in another part of the room, her tail more clearly visible.

Lindsay sighs. "Well, for one, this part of the state has yet to have a mutant birth, compared to around the rest of the country. Seems the guys above might want something special of her."

Peter still has a frown etched on his war-weary features. "Special, huh? Like, trying to make her into one of those costumed people running around trying to save everyone? Working for the government like a mule? And you're willing to sit by and let it happen to this little child? I thought children had a choice in the matter of what they wanted to be when they grew up and what they want to do with their life, not be forced into such things against their will, no matter who they are."

Lindsay looks taken aback by that sudden outburst of the pastor. She shifts her weight again, pulling out a notepad with some penned words in it filling one of the pages. "Well, don't get too ahead of yourself there, preacher. I mean, there's a good chance she may find a home soon enough with a loving family, even with her… mutations." She flips through one of the pages of the notepad. "We keep lengthy documentation on Laura and per the doctor's orders observe and write out what changes she is going through as she grows up. Of course her new adoptive parents will be almost required to do the same."

"Like a lab rat." Peter snorts once.

"No, not like… ugh. Listen, pastor. I actually feel you more than some of the others here. I want this girl to be in a good home just like any other child that resides here. You can't deny she's a special case, and it doesn't help that even trying to find just temporary foster homes have lead into dead ends."

Peter gives Lindsay that 'say what?' type of look.

Lindsay shakes her head. "I'm serious. Last one we did jump through the hoops to give to a family, it was only for a couple of days before she was right back here."

Peter raises an eyebrow, this being the first time he's hearing of everything that's transpired. "What could it be? Her behavior? I mean, look at her! She has a lot of energy! Maybe those folks couldn't keep up."

Lindsay shakes her head again. "Pastor, you don't have to fool me none. You know, deep down and just by looking at her, the real reason."

Both adults turn to Laura, who is now putting one of the stuffed dolls in a built-up cage of Lego blocks. She seems hard at it, her little three-quarters-foot tail waving around like that of an excited puppy. Her ears are now a bit more pointed than when she was born, and Laura's hair has grown out a bit, made into a little braided ponytail with a bow that reaches down the base of her neck. She looks over at the two adults, sees Peter, and with her brightly-showing purple eyes makes a frenzied beeline towards him, clasping her little arms around his good leg, her tail fanning the air at a tremendous pace."

"HI!" the little one squeals out, beaming in a bright innocent smile towards the two adults, but especially Peter.

The pastor stoops down, taking care to lean against one of the crutches to return the hug. He now has a wooden prosthetic leg; however, it is rather crude in design. "How's my little angel, huh?"

Little Laura happily nods, turning around and pointing at the Lego structure: "I made that! Yay!"

Lindsay can't help but chuckle and nod at the sight of the two and of Laura's boundless energy and enthusiasm. She looks down at the girl. "Now, you remember where you put everything, ok? Clean up real good before dinner, and maybe you'll get some ice cream afterwards!"

Laura looks up at Lindsay, blinking with her huge eyes, and with Peter getting a good look at them: The whole of her eyeballs were vivid in color, but what was most peculiar and striking was her pupils had a mild, vertical slit to them. Would almost remind him of a feline.

"YAY!" the little mutant girl squeals as she runs off to continue to play.

Peter stands up slowly, the wooden leg only marginally helping with his balance as he balances on the crutch. It seems to help just enough, as he only needs one crutch for most of getting around now. "She is so adorable. But, it's strange. What else is going on with her? You mentioned the doctor wanted you to look at her to see what else pops up."

Lindsay nods. "Yes, as you of course have seen, she's growing a tail on her, which a few of the older kids cannot help but pull on a few times; part of the reason why she's by herself for the time being. And not just that, but her ears also have been growing a bit more out there. The doctor says she might wind up with them pointed outwards or upwards. We'll need to make sure the kids don't mess with those as well. And also…"

"The eyes." Peter mentions, watching Laura run back and yet again make a mess out of the Lego structure she made.

"Yes, although they are quite pretty. Some of the other kids can't help but stare. As also some of the staff here as well when she's right up against them, either hugging or wanting to just chat with them about silly stuff."

Both of the adults continue to look on at the child, as she starts to straighten up a few things, though it becomes apparent she's also looking for another toy buried in the mess of Legos.

Lindsay leans against the doorframe, glancing at a clock on the wall. It reads four o' clock, about the time most kids of her age would be taking a nap. "I'll say this: she's a lot brighter than any two year-old I have encountered in all my years taking care of children. She can quickly grasp what most folks are talking about if you just talk to her normally. In fact, one of the home teachers here is quite impressed with her speed in learning new words and phrases. On some of the books here, she can even out-read some of the five year olds."

Peter chuckles. "She's going to grow up to be a mighty bright one." He and Lindsay turn toward the little girl, finding what looks to be a cartoony-looking stuffed mouse plush, holding it against her chest as she bolts off in another direction.

"Yes, she's going to be something special alright. Say, Peter, uh… you'll be here next week to fill in for Julie, right? Laura's been at different staff persons' houses, though next week most are preoccupied with other things. I mean, could you…?"

Peter smiles and nods at the woman. "But of course we watch over her. I know Ruby will be delighted, but I'll warn you, she'd be hard pressed to give her back up when the week's over with!"

The little toddler Laura lazily shoves some of the loose Legos in their original position near one of the boxes. She picks up the stuffed mouse toy, having it in a death-grip against her body; she waddles over to the adults, mouth opening wide in a big yawn, her tail just slowly fanning around. It's quite obvious that the little mutant girl is quite tired and in need serious need of a nap.

"I'm tired…" Laura cutely says, rubbing her eyes after a long small-armed stretch, her tail also stretching out to its full length.

Lindsay gives a 'humph' sound as she smiles at the girl wide and picks up her. Laura's tail briefly wags as she's lifted off the floor, before setting down and her head resting on the big woman's shoulder, quickly going from awake to sleep in just a few moments.

"Well, that was fast." Peter chuckles as he looks back into the somewhat messy room with a few Legos and dolls strewn about.

Lindsay shrugs and backs away, letting Peter out of the doorway before she turns to shut it behind her, carrying the sleeping mutant in her arms. "I'll clean up the rest later; she did enough for the day."

"How long as she been up?" Peter smirks as he hobbles alongside Lindsay down the hallway.

"Long enough. She usually takes a nap at least an hour earlier at the latest. Guess it's just one of the minor changes going on with her. Hopefully it stops at that point." Lindsay sighs, rubbing the girl's back, little Laura softly breathing and clutching the toy in her hand still.

Peter gives Lindsay a quizzical look. "How you mean?"

"I mean… well, the older she gets, the more stuff she might have pop-up on her body. Her tail might get longer, she might grow fangs…who knows? What I'm worried about is how the other kids will continue to treat her as she gets older. She doesn't have many friends right now, due to most of the other ones messing with her tail…"

Peter sighs, his expression turning slightly grim. "I see…well, I'll do whatever I can to help out and keep an eye on her. It's the least I can do…not like the state will be of much help."

"Yeah, I hear you."

* * *

It was nighttime at the home. Most of the younger kids were asleep in their assigned rooms. Laura, the little two-year old, was curled in a tiny bed in the room of one of the overnight staff members, clutching on her rodent plushy. Not far from the bedroom, was the other of that room, as well as another figure, having a late-night discussion.

"I take it we'll be granted additional funding for this as a result of her?" the larger male speaks, drinking from a bottled soda a few times.

The other person, a skinnier female responds with a nod. "They'll want updates at least every month on her 'condition.' And then bi-annual physical examinations. In return, most of everyone here will get a raise increase, as well as additional funding for the facility here." The lady shifts a bit where she stands, glancing back at the room where Laura is asleep: "Mr. Cole, what do you think the government wants to do with her? She has no parents or blood relatives that we know of on record, her blood tests have screwed up the equipment more than a few times, and at the rate of her mutations-"

The man called Mr. Cole cuts her off. "It'll be fine. I'm sure it's all just physical stuff we'll only have to watch for. Doesn't matter, that girl right there, until she turns eighteen is our big payday. As long as we play nice and keep her here and do what those eggheads say, we'll be in the money for everyone. I'm sure the extra cash will help out your ailing parents, right, Doris?"

The Caucasian femme, Doris shrugs, obviously looking uncomfortable where she stands. "I… I guess. But still, I'm worried what they might do to her when it does come around that time…"

"Bah, you worry yourself too much. I mean, most of the guys up in Washington were nice enough to help suppress the media about what happened two years ago. Most around here don't even know she exists. And who would care? She's a freak of nature. Frankly, I'd be glad if they took her out of here the next day, as long as we get paid handsomely in return."

"Mr. Cole…"

Cole waves her off: "Not now, Dory. I think you should get some rest. Big day tomorrow! Field trip for the young'uns!"

Doris watches the taller-than-her white man with the receding hairline walk off, looking quite jovial. She sighs, walking back toward the room with Laura, peeking inside. Laura has turned on her belly, sleeping soundly. Seems the little girl has been doing that a lot more for the past few months. Doris walks over and strokes the girl down her long, dark hair, a sad expression on your face.

"You deserve better than this. No matter what it takes, I'll make sure you'll make it."

Laura stirs for a moment before she turns her head the other way, seemingly smiling while she sleeps.


	3. Chapter 2

_May 12, 1989_

"Hey, Laura!"

"Yeah?"

"Do they hurt when they're comin' out of your head?"

"What? Huh?"

Two girls among a sizable number of other children are happily doing what most other kids are doing best: Having whatever bits of fun that is to be had during recess time at the elementary school. The group home does not partake in home-schooling services, although for a time the staff briefly discussed the matter concerning Laura (now six years of age). Her growing extra appendages are becoming more apparent, with small wings coming out of the top area of her back near her shoulder blades. Her tail now reaches to about two and a half feet in length, with a small fuzzy tuft on the end of it like that of a lion. Her brown skin also has started to undergo a change, with what looks to be a smooth amount of fuzz growing all over her body. Due to it being a similar shade of color like the skin underneath, it's not noticeable unless one was to get close enough and actually touch her. Laura's eyes still are colored a vivid purple, the pupils now look much more closely to that of a feline. Her ears also have taken an odd shape, lengthening outwards about an inch, where would normally be the top of her ears now ending at a sharp point.

However, Laura's playmate was not exactly asking about her wings or tail, as the skinny Hispanic-girl's curious hands reach up and touch the tops of Laura's tiny horns growing out of her head.

"Hey, I'm talking about these things! They're horns!"

Laura winces, moving away a step from her friend's touchy hands. "I guess so! Don't touch'em!"

"Why not? Do they hurt?"

Laura shakes her head furiously, her braided pigtails flopping around her head. Her hair has grown out quite a bit, much to the envy of a few kids at the home and the school (and enough to warrant it being braided or pulled into more manageable ponytails every chance the staff gets, as some of that envy turns into painful jealousy). "Well, no… but I don't like people touching on me all the time like that!"

"But I'm not hurting you!"

Laura shakes her head again. "No way, Marie! Already have enough people pulling on my tail all the time! I just… I just don't like it!"

Marie slowly nods, more empathetic to her friend. "Sorry, Laura. It just looks so cool!"

Laura sulks at hearing that. "I don't think so, or some other people don't think so. I think someone the other day I was gonna be bad because I looked like a monster."

Marie's eyes widen at hearing this. "Who said that? Was it one of the boys?"

The young mutant girl sighs: "No… I think it was one of the teachers that said that."

"Then why not tell Ms. Spinn?"

Laura opens and rolls her eyes at Marie. "And who's going to believe me? It's bad enough the other people mess with me all the time and most of the teachers don't see anything! I think they're all blind until they get in trouble or something."

Both of the girls look toward the other areas of the playground. They chose a nearby pecan tree to hang-out under and play around with the simple-yet- sturdy rope swings hanging from the branches. A number of yards away is where the majority of the rest of the homeroom having fun on the industrial-made playground, sliding down the slides, playing on the chain swings, monkeying around on the monkey bars. Out of the entire student population of the elementary school, Laura had the unfortunate distinction of being the only meta-human child in attendance. A fact that was most well-known among the student population.

"Laura," Marie starts again, going up to the tire swing to push it a few times. "Wanna swing some? I'll push!"

Laura looks at her friend, one of the few she has and is not (too) touchy with her growing appendages. She smiles big and wide, running and taking care to situate herself on the wooden seat of the swing. Marie proceeds to give Laura a few pushes to get her going.

"Hey Laura, what are you gonna do when school's up?" Marie asks, giving Laura the occasional push on the swing, the mutant girl now doing most of the work as she gains momentum.

"I don't know. Whatever the people at the house want, I guess. Why?"

"You don't know if you're going anywhere for like, summer vacations? My parents are taking me to Disneyland!"

Laura giggles, kicking out her legs to gain momentum with each swing forwards. "Oh, that's cool! I wish I could go…"

"Maybe my mom and dad can take you!"

"I don't think Miss Lindsay would like that very much…"

Marie looks at Laura with confusion, missing a few pushes. "What'cha mean? Why wouldn't they? Are they going to take you anywhere?"

Laura fumes a bit. "I told you I don't know! I kinda want to do stuff, though."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Won't hurt to ask, right?"

"Yeah, maybe."

A long silence goes by between the two girls, Laura's tail trailing a distance whenever she swung upwards high on the swing, breaking the silence with a few laughs! Marie follows suit, and then…

"Hey, you think if those wings of yours grow any bigger, you might be able to fly?"

Laura barely manages to look behind her while swinging. Her wings were indeed quite small on her back, a product of a few years of her mutations. She can no longer sleep on her back (or, while the wings are still growing), the limbs on them covered with the same tiny pelt as on the rest of her body. Because of the wings and tail, Laura also has to have her clothes specially tailored for her. A convenient hole that had to be cut out of whatever pants she wore, to make room for her tail. But aside from that, it was usually skirts. Her wings, on the other-hand required either clumsily stitched-together shirts (after ripping a big enough chunk out of them for wings to fit through) or something akin to a halter-top. Though finding one for a girl of Laura's size was (and still is) a pain.

"I… I don't know if I can."

Marie keeps pushing her mutant friend on the swing a few times, sending her higher and higher. "You got to! I bet you'd be like all those other cool superheroes out there flying around on TV and everything! Hey, maybe you can be a superhero one day as well!"  
Laura scrunches her nose. "I don't want to be a superhero! It doesn't look fun!"

"It won't hurt until you try! Wanna see if you can fly?"

Laura literally squeals at the thought. "No! I don't wanna!"

"Aww, come on!" Marie laughs. She gives one more push on the squealing Laura, giggling crazily herself, however just as she was about to relent on keeping the play up further, a boy runs up and rudely shoves Marie to the side, knocking her down onto the grass!

"Ow! Hey!"

The tanned kid, about a year older than either of the girls, as well as being joined by four other boys of that age range all surround behind Laura, as another of the group, a rather tall kid for his age, gives a hard push on Laura, sending her up even higher.

"Marie, stop it! I don't wanna go any higher!" Laura protests! She gives a glance behind her, her violet eyes widening as she sees it's not her friend giving her a boost anymore.

"Bobby, make her fly!" one of the bullies yells out, as the taller white kid Bobby gives Laura another big push, sending the poor girl too-high up, almost knocking her out of the swing!

Laura squeaks and panics, and on the decent attempts to dig her feet into the ground to slow herself, but she's not tall enough to reach the ground as she swings by and on the too-fast of a return swing is pushed even harder by Bobby, the other guys laughing and looking on!

"Fly, Laura, fly away!" Bobby yells out, and one of the other boys makes a few chicken noises, causing the rest of them to burst out laughing at the meta-human's plight.

Laura's sent so high up, she loses her grip on the sides of the swing…as the ropes and her seat give away from under her, sending her sailing forward into the air! The young mutant girl lets out a piercing scream that alerts everyone on the playground, even the teachers as Laura plummets towards the ground.

But, in those seconds that Laura screams, a huge gust of wind comes out of nowhere, enveloping the area in a stiff breeze. The sudden gust of wind is strong enough to knock down one of the kids, as well as an errant branch from the tree. Laura falls to the ground, amazingly landing as close to feet-first as possible, before collapsing on her bum, sobbing and crying from that close call. Most of the grass around where she landed is flattened from the brief storm, as if most of the wind was centered near her…

Not that it mattered, however, as the kids all back away right when the teacher runs up to the group near the tree.

"It's a week until summer break and what do I find the lot of you doing?!" Ms. Spinn yells out to the group. Marie slowly picks herself up from the ground, brushing herself off. The four boys stand in awkward silence, not answering the teacher. The only sounds punctuating the silence were Laura's sobs. Ms. Spinn bends down to look at the girl, checking on whether she is injured. "You okay? What happened? Are you hurt?"

Laura sobs a few more times, drying up her tears, as she points a small finger right at Bobby. "He made me fall out of the swing."

Bobby's eyes grow wide at his accuser and he quickly fires back. "I didn't do nothing! I didn't do nothing!" He grimaces at Laura, but the teacher quickly stands up, glaring at the kid, pointing a stern finger at him.

"I'm calling your parents about this, mister. Too close to vacation and you're _still _messing with Laura. How many times have I and others have told you to stop messing with her?"

Bobby's eyes grow wide in panic as he starts stammering. "But Miss… I didn't do anything! She fell out of the swing on her own!"

"You pushed me too hard and I fell out!" Laura snaps back angrily, her tail lashing about behind her.

"Enough! The both of you!" Ms. Spinn huffs. She looks over at the rest of the kids on the playground, now staring at the commotion. "Alright, recess is over with, everyone back inside, single file!" She then glares at the other kids alongside Bobby. "If the rest of you know what's good for you, you'll tell me what happens before I write all of you up."

One of the shorter, heavier boys in the group quickly speaks up. "Bobby did it! He pushed her!"

"Mike!" Bobby yells out at his turncoat of a friend.

Ms. Spinn pats Laura a few times before sending her on her way, with Marie closely behind her friend. "The rest of you, inside. Bobby, get out a dictionary and start writing definitions starting from the word 'Iguanodon.' I'll be calling up your parents shortly."

"Teacher! Look at her, she's not even hurt!"

"Now, young man!"

Bobby sulks and huffs, shooting Laura an angry glare as she trots inside alongside Marie back into the school building.

* * *

The school bus dropped the last batch of kids over near the stop in front of the group home; fourteen children in total, almost evenly boys and girls. Laura was the last getting off the bus, looking a bit down in the dumps expression-wise; even her tail droops to signify her mood. Doris and a few other staff members of the home are right there to greet and usher most of the kids inside when Doris spots Laura lagging behind the others. She steps in front of the six-year-old, kneeling down and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I got a call from the school about earlier today," Doris said in a comforting tone. "What happened this time?"

Laura gives Doris a sad look for a moment, and then her expression goes neutral as her tail twitches a few times. "A boy pushed me off the swing really hard. I was really high up and fell off."

Doris's jaw drops as she quickly turns Laura around, looking her over for any sign of injuries. Aside from just dusty clothes, there wasn't anything else that shown her injured in any way. She turns Laura back to face her again. "And then what? You do anything back to him?"

Laura shakes her head. "No."

Doris smiles and nods. "Good. Don't wo-"

"Should I have?"

Doris pauses as Laura asks that question, interrupting her train of thought. It takes the worker only a moment to regain herself. "No, you did nothing wrong. Don't want you stooping to his level. Now, go get cleaned up so you can play with the rest of your friends here."

Laura blinks and sulks a bit, though she nods and after Doris lets her go, strides into the building. "One already got put into a foster home…" She doesn't look back as she goes deeper into her area.

Doris blinks and heaves a sigh, looking up into the sky. She closes her eyes a moment before opening them, now partially wet with tears. She wipes them away as she puts on a strong face and goes into the house.

* * *

"What? So what? You know what that girl is capable of?!"

The angry, bald man was shouting during the parent-teacher meeting. Spinn, as well as the principal were sitting on one end of a table while Bobby's mom and dad were on the other end, their son in-between. The dad, wearing a blue workman shirt that has his nametag on it, reading 'Joe,' was red in the face, making his slightly dark complexion even darker, with his piercing eyes accenting the rest of him. "My son was just playing around like any other school child there! You people coddle and keep these kids from doing any real play! Besides, that girl ain't normal in the first place! Why would you need to write _my _son up?!"

The principal raises a large hand. A quite imposing man in a light-colored suit, dark-skinned and bald, simple gestures from him seem to even convey an air of authority. "Now, settle down Mr. Clemmons. You can't deny what Ms. Spinn here has informed me of here. She also says this isn't the first time your son has treated the girl…"

"Mutant!" Joe makes that outburst, with his wife putting a hand on her husband's wrist to calm him.

The bald-headed principal sweats for a moment. He takes out a handkerchief, wiping his head some as he continues to speak. "It does not matter whether she is human or not. This school was chosen to be where everyone, even _her_, will be educated. And just like any other student here, she _will _be protected! Now, I must warn you, Joe…"

Joe visibly bristles, his voice getting louder. "Well, put that _thing _in another classroom or something! Put her in the one with those retard kids!"

"MISTER CLEMMONS!" Ms. Spinn yells out, having had enough of the bigoted-sounding father.

The principal takes a few breaths when everyone's quieted down. He looks up at Bobby for a moment, the kid at the center of this debate visible shrinking in his seat. Then he levels his gaze at the parents, specifically Joe. "Mister Joe Clemmons. I know you are a hard-working man. I know you probably believe that everyone should own up to their mistakes, no matter how great and small. But hear me out. I do not tolerate that language here in _my _school building. And, I am giving you this fair warning for the sake of your son: His behavior around everyone, even the mutant girl Laura, must improve, or I will be forced to impose upon him two weeks of school suspension."

Joe balks for a moment and scoffs. "_Two _weeks of suspension? Are you out of your mind?! There's only one full week of school left! How are you going to do that?"

The principal straightens his tie. "By having it roll into the new school year, that's how. And that will go on his permanent record as well. Joe, I do not wish to antagonize you or your family, but we do not condone this type of behavior, especially when we have our first meta-human under our roof! Please consider my words and help your son understand!"

Joe stays quiet for a moment, but then his features turn beet-red again as he angrily stands up from his desk, grabbing his wife up rather hard. "Come on, Martha! Bobby, let's go. Back to the truck!"

The principal stands up as well. "Joe, please!"

"I ain't gonna have my kid go to this dump as long as that _thing _goes here! I'm sure there are a lot of other parents that feel the same way! You don't know what she can do! One day you're going to regret it!"

Joe's wife, Martha finally attempts to speak up. "Hey, please list-"

"SHUT UP!" Joe yells at his wife as he stomps off, wife being dragged along and Bobby glancing nervously before following behind his folks.

After a moment of silence, the six-foot tall principal sits back down heavily in the chair, huffing. "I overdid it this time, didn't I?"

Ms. Spinn shakes her head slowly, patting her boss on his back. "No, you did fine. Just some folks are too thick headed to be of any help. But still, he does make a point…"

The weary principal looks up at Spinn. "Like how? Besides sounding like something from before the Civil Rights movement?"

The woman chuckles, then her expression turns a bit serious. "No, I mean, yes Laura Forrest is a sweet girl, but he is right in that we don't all know what she's able to do. That and…he was not wrong in that he isn't the only parent here that shared their concerns about her."

The principal sighs. "I figured as much. I'll bet I'm going to be hearing this at the school board meeting next week."

"Yeah."

"But still. Look at the age we live in. It's not a day goes by without hearing of something from a superhero doing something or a villain causing trouble. Not one. They all come in different shapes and sizes. Does not exclude the kids, either. I mean… I just think that people having those attitudes, especially towards those who can't help anything about themselves will not help anyone in the long run of the game."

Spinn nods, pushing in the chairs of the people who vacated the conference. "I know, but not everyone's so open-minded towards the idea of those who can literally move mountains. I mean, what about that Ravenwood academy? Rumors have been that they'll take in meta-people of all types. Wouldn't that place be good for Laura to go to?"

"Not in my hands. I just want what's best for her and everyone else under _my _roof, mutant or not." The principal leans back, before getting up out of the chair, stretching out some, a few of his joints popping audible. "Say, how has Laura's grades been in your class?"

"Beg pardon? Oh! Yes, well, she's quite a light bulb in the classroom! Straight A's in almost every subject. She might be selected to be a part of the Gifted and Talented program next year."

The principal nods as he takes of his fancy nametag from his suit jacket collar: It reads 'Warren.'

"I see great things in that girl's future. Now, I you'll excuse me, I'll need to get home. See you next week?"

Ms. Spinn nods. "Of course. Have a great weekend!"


	4. Chapter 3

_May 30, 1991_

Inside the group home, eight-year old Laura Forrest was sitting in her room, sobbing her eyes out. The room she resides in was formerly tailored for incoming and outgoing kids, not long-term stays. Though in her unique case and the years she's stayed in it, now reflects that of the upbringing and life of the mutant girl. Pictures of a few friends she made hung on the wall closest to her bed. A small-sized closet took up the majority of space long the wall across from her bed. A couple of lamps adorned the corners of her room; one near her desk and another right by her nightstand, sporting rather colorful decorations. Other knick-knacks like small pieces of cheap jewelry and hair bands and other materials lay strewn on her desk or her nightstand. On her twin-size bed (which used to have been part of a bunk bed set-up) sat a small, slightly worn plush animal of a mouse, this time adorned with a few marks of repair from a sewing machine, as well as sporting a cute outfit tailor-made for a stuffed animal.

Things were quiet in the room, her sobs punctuating the air, when knock is heard on the door, quickly catching Laura's attention, her head snapping up towards the visitor: A Caucasian girl, looked to be a few years old than her, her hair long and colored that of a dirty blonde. Relatively thin, she steps into Laura's room, while the little mutant girl wipes her eyes.

"Oh wow, I thought the others were just messing around! You really are a mutant!" the girl says, her eyes darting over little Laura's shape and details.

Laura's large, violet eyes with their feline pupils shine in the dim lighting of her room. She was curled against her bed on the floor, her legs drawn into her chest, hands and head formerly resting on her raised knees. She's sporting another halter-top, a one-color design, which is worn not out of trends, but out of necessity, as on her backs a pair of feathered wings, the colors of the feathers matching the velvety fuzz of fur that covers her skin. The inside portion of the wings are mottled white on parts of them, which also reflects what is showing up on Laura's fur as well. Her ears are more elongated, growing in such a shape one would mistake them as fins, with another second point seemingly growing from below the larger point her ears are growing out of. On the top of her head, her horns have grown out a little more, those of which would remind one of that of a young deer (or even goat!). However on her, they seem to accent her long jet-black hair, which in an incident the year before was the envy of one troublemaking girl from rough home and as a result wound up getting pulled quite hard. Laura was crying a fit that day due to the assault, but she was fine. The aggressor however was on her butt, claiming that Laura did something to knock her down, despite no contact was made on her.

The last notable feature on the meta-human was her tail. At three-feet in length and quite thin, it has been known to get caught in doors and making it slightly uncomfortable sitting in certain chairs. When the old creepy man presented Laura with an idea to have it surgically removed, she panicked and retreated into her room, not speaking with anyone until the owner of the state home apologized (and some extra prodding from Pastor Peter, who took the girl out for ice cream after that). The tuft on the end of her tail was getting bigger, and it seemed the appendage has a very large degree of motion on it, as it curls around Laura's body when this new person came into her room.

"I thought door was locked. Who are you?" Laura asks after finally getting rid of an errant sniffle. She does not yet get up from the ground, watching the older girl.

"Hey, relax! I just want to be friends!" the girl says, reaching out for a handshake. "Name's Crystal, but you can call me Chris for short. Hey, why are you crying?"

Laura hastily wipes away the last of her tears, wiping her hands on her skirt, before eyeing Crystal's hand in curiosity. The girl was slightly tanned, but looked friendly enough. Laura takes the hand and gently shakes it. "Uh… I wasn't crying. It was… just one of my best friends moved away." The mutant girl sulks a bit upon saying that.

"Aww! That's bad. Who was she? Did she stay here?" Chris asks, sitting on the floor right in front of Laura.

The mutant girl furiously shakes her head. "No, Marie was from school. She was the only friend I had over there, and her parents moved her far away. I don't know where! I can't even write to her!"

Chris moves toward Laura to give her a hug while the meta-human girl lets out the waterworks. Chris gets a surprised look on her face for a moment when she hugs Laura, feeling on her feathers some.

"Wow, your feathers are so soft…how long have you had this?"

Laura sobs a moment, gently pushing Chris away from her. "I've had all this all my life… and it they do it make things harder for me."

Chris looks over the young girl, nodding some. "I can see why. Can't even wear a normal shirt! Though, if you want, I can help you with your friend problem!"

Laura's eyes give Chris a skeptical look. Chris, despite her long hair and greyish blue eyes had a more tomboyish look to her, wearing jeans and a non-descript t-shirt. The shoes she had on were sneaker, and very well worn and look to be in need of getting cleaned up.

Chris beams a smile at Laura, grabbing one of her hands. "I can be your friend!"

Laura blinks at Chris on hearing those words. "Really? Why? Most of those I knew from here always either stay for only a year or get moved somewhere else. Not even the foster families want me, for some reason…not like I care." The mutant girl snorts and sniffles once, making it obvious she's not hiding a bit of contempt at what she described.

Chris scrunches her nose, giving Laura's small hand a few playful shakes. "Well, I might be here for a long while, and the others have said you've been here the longest out of anyone, and that you had all this cool stuff on you! It looks _really _cool! Sometimes I wish I had wings on me on some days. Can you fly with those?"

Laura blinks again, trying to process the sudden rush of words, her tail unfurling from around herself. "I uh, no. I've never used these for anything. All they do is just get in the way. But they hurt if someone pulls on them. I can't just get rid of'em."

Chris grins wide at Laura, her hands clasped over Laura's little clawed ones. Yes, the mutant girl now has slightly longer nails coming out of her fingertips, which might resemble claws, though the tips of them were actually blunt, despite ending in a point. "Maybe I can help you out with them! It'd be sad if you had wings but couldn't fly!"

Laura just stares at Chris, wide-eyed. "But… I can't! Or… I don't know how. I mean, I never tried; it's just all so scary to me! What if I fall and hurt myself! And who are you to come out of nowhere to be telling me all of this?"

Chris giggles and sighs, letting go of Laura's hands. "Like I said, I'm gonna be here for a long while. Some of the others told me about you, so I figured I check you out and see what's up. Know what I mean?"

Laura just blinks at Chris again, her tail swinging around behind her a few times. "I guess… hardly anyone here to talk with, besides all the adults. And Peter."

"Who's Peter?"

Laura stands up, brushing down her skirt. "Peter, he's a pastor over at a church. Known him all of my life."

Chris stands near the doorway, leaning against it. "Oh? He's not like your dad or anything? You have any parents?"  
Laura looks at Chris with a dumbfounded expression on her face, but she regains herself and shakes her head slowly. "No…or that's what the others say. No one has any idea who my mom or dad would be. Was found as a baby by Peter. They uh, they couldn't find anyone who looked like me or would know anything about me, so I've been here ever since, except for times with Peter and whomever else I stay with on some holidays."

Chris leans away from the doorframe to stretch out her arms a few times. "So, don't know anything about parents or kinfolk? I think you're a lucky one."

Laura's eyes grow wide. "Why would you say that?"  
Chris stops her brief stretch exercises and looks at Laura. "Well, for some people it's all about luck. I'm fixing to go outside, you want to come with?"

Laura's tail stiffens for a moment as she looks at Chris for what could be a long time. "Huh?"

"I asked you, do you want to go outside and run around outside some?"

Laura pauses and stammers some, unsure of at first how to answer. "Well…I never went out on my own without either Peter or Lindsay or Doris. But I haven't seen Doris in a long time…" The mutant girl crosses her arms, the wings on her back shaking a bit, sending an errant loose feather to the ground.

Chris eyes the feather and picks it up. "Don't know who that is. I haven't been here that long. You need someone to hold your hand or something everywhere you go?"

Laura shuffles her bare feet in place some, obviously looking a bit uncomfortable, her tail once again wrapping around her small frame. "I dunno. Most of the time they keep me here, especially because people like to stare and everything…"

Chris runs up and grabs Laura's hand, causing the winged girl to emit a surprised squeak. "Come on! It's the end of the school year and I'm bored! Ain't there a park nearby we can go to or something? I know there is, down the road from here!"

"Ah! But don't we need to tell someone where we're going? And stop pulling me!"

Chris heaves a sigh, letting go of Laura right as she was being dragged into one of the small hallways leading to the outside. "I dunno, girl. I'm trying to make friends with you and you just want to sit up in that room and cry!"

"No I don't! I just…don't wanna get in trouble."

Chris rolls her eyes. "Hey, there ain't nothing they can do to us! And what about you, what is anyone gonna do to you? I mean, you can probably fly your butt anywhere you want if you tried to!"

Laura's wings flutter once on her back as she looks down at the ground. "But…I never tried before. I'm just scared is all. I…don't have many friends."

Chris's eyes widen as she looks on at the brown-furred Laura. "Why is that? Just cause you're a mutant? I still think that's the coolest thing ever!"

"It's _because _of that. I don't think it's cool…had some kid's mom from school call me a monster."

After a brief pause, Laura starts to sob a few times. Chris tilts her head and immediately rushes towards the mutant, giving her a tight hug. "Hey, you ain't a monster, just sad. I'll be your friend, cause why not? Besides, I don't want to leave here. Here's better than at the house."

Laura sniffles in Chris's grasp but then ceases the action, looking up at the taller girl. "Okay, I guess."

"And, if anyone messes with you, I'll make sure to beat'em to a pulp! I ain't scared!" Chris lets out a laugh as she looks down at Laura's bare feet. "Uh, don't you want to put on any shoes?"

Laura blinks and shakes her head. "No, I'm fine. I kinda like to run around like this than in shoes. Don't know why. Just doesn't feel good on my feet." She beams a silly grin at Chris, her tail behind her wagging at a steady pace.

Both of the girls snuck around the rear exit of the oversized house, past the hallway that lead to some of the administrators offices. Chris holds up a hand to Laura, checking around a corner, before the both of them dart around through the oversized backyard area, before going through an unlocked gate that lead to a nearby street.

"Um, shouldn't we tell someone where we're going?" Laura asks, her tail fanning the air behind her in a bout of worry.

"Naw, we cool. We'll only be out for a little while anyways. You've been cooped up in there for too long, and so I have I. Besides, the park is down this way. Just follow me and keep on sidewalk!"

Chris laughs as she leads the eight-year old Laura behind her onto a side street, and both trot off in the direction of the nearby park.

* * *

Pastor Peter was checking out the news on the television at his house. His expression is a firm frown, as he hears on the news about the super heroic incidents that have been going on around the world. He reclines back in an old soft chair as he watches and listens to the flood of reports: Bank robberies in the northwestern part of the States being halted by costumed individuals of various powers and abilities, televised threats by some fiendish individual who goes by the absurdly cliché name 'Dr. Destroyer,' the new memorial hospital, named after a fallen hero Kip Faraday, is officially open to the public, and a small group of super-powered thieves are awaiting trial for attempting to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from a famous rock star.

"Things are changing in this world indeed." Peter idly muses, resting a hand on the armrest, propping his head on it.

A thud of a door closing is heard, accompanied by heavy footsteps going through parts of the house back and forth. Ruby peers into the room where her husband is watching TV. "Hey, you awake?"

"Usually am around this time. I need to write out what to say for next-week's sermon."

Ruby shrugs as she heads into the kitchen to offload the groceries she brought. "Well, I was out earlier and I saw Laura at the park."

Peter sits himself up to turn himself around as best he can in that chair. "You have? You speak to her?"

Ruby throws a few things into the refrigerator. "No, traffic light was green and didn't think to do so anyway. She was with a couple of other people, though. Probably people from the Home."

Peter inhales a breath and turns back around to the TV. "You know, I don't like how they're taking care of her. I mean, seems most want the best for her, but she needs a stable home."

Ruby continues messing around in the kitchen, putting things in the pantry. "Yeah, but every time we say something, they're always coming up with some sort of excuse. I woulda thought they outta already put her in a foster home someplace."

"Yeah, but I don't think they're wanting to do even that. Before Sunday rolls around, I'm gonna go back down to there and get me some answers."

Ruby peeks back into the living room with Peter staring back. "I'm with you all the way. That poor baby hasn't been all the same since one of her best friends left."

Peter frowns at hearing that. "Yeah, and I have a feeling I know why she was taken away from here. I spotted the father of that little girl, Marie. Yeah, I think that was her name. Anyway, saw him there and I didn't say hi to him or anything like that. Didn't need to, because I heard him talking down about Laura and how he didn't want her and his girl being friends and all that." The Pastor flops back into his recliner.

Ruby's eyes widen, pausing a moment of putting away the last of the food items before she finds her voice, trembling with a hint of anger. "Thought I'd never see when kids like her have to go through what my daddy did when he was growing up."

Peter says out loud from the living room. "Yeah, damn shame." He crosses his hands under his chin, looking to be in deep thought. It seems the Pastor may have found a bit of inspiration for his next sermon.

* * *

Later in the evening, Chris and Laura were both in the kitchen, cleaning up the tables and floors and doing the dishes. Laura's tail fans the air in a bit of agitation while Chris herself grumbles and fusses over the sink.

"What rotten luck that was. Didn't think that fat dude was going to be there," Chris starts, looking quite peeved as she scrubs one of the plates of crumbs from the dinner earlier.

Laura sulks a bit as she mops the floor, tail now drooping some. "I've never got in trouble before. I never saw Lindsay this mad before. I just wanted to go outside for a bit. They hardly let me out except for school or trips to places. Most people around already know what I look like…"

Chris looks behind her at Laura. "Hey, don't worry about it. Mess like this happens to me all the time. See, this is the most that I have to go through. I mean, that's why I find your wings to be cool. Be able to fly where you want and however far you want to go… I wish I had wings like yours!"

Laura stops mopping, leaning on the handle, looking at Laura. "Why would you? I can't even fly with mines!"

Chris laughs and finds a bit more energy to continue her dish-washing duties. "But you said it yourself, you never tried. And you didn't look all that scared when we climbed up that huge set of stairs, that Jacob's Ladder! In fact you were going up those things faster than me! Sure was windy around there, though!"

Laura giggles some as she rinses out the dirty water to continue her chore. "I didn't feel much of any wind around there! But it was nice! Though now, I dunno if we'll be able to go back over there again…"

Chris turns around, hands on her hips. "Well, next time we'll have to be a lot more careful! I wanna see if you can fly with those things on, I bet it'd be so cool!"

Laura gets a nervous expression on her face as she continues to mop the floors. "I…I don't know. You sure? I mean, even if I wanted to, where do we go?"

Chris has a wide smile spread on her tanned face while she dries off one of the plates. "There's plenty of trees all over the place! And don't worry, I'll be with you and help you out so we don't get caught outside again!"

Laura smiles at Chris as one of the group home administrators, Lindsay walks by the doorway, eyeing the two girls.

"Now don't have me catch _either _of you at the park again, you hear me?"

Both Chris and Laura look at each other, and then both look back at Lindsay and answer in unison. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good." Lindsay says sharply, stomping off to another room.

Chris rolls her eyes and says under her breath as she turns around to the sink. "What a bitch."

Laura's eyes go completely wide as she covers her mouth in surprise at what Chris said. The normal human girl looks back at the mutant with a shrug.

"What did I say? It's true."


	5. Chapter 4

_June 12, 1991_

The clouds hung lightly above the old neighborhood on a warm Sunday afternoon. One of the lots besides the old church building was dotted with a few vehicles of various kinds. Music from the electric organs could be heard across the street from the building of worship. Inside, the service was in full swing, with Peter in the pulpit delivering a spirited sermon. It seems the subject on loving thy neighbor, no matter race or creed or species seems to resonate with the crowd, temporarily overriding those of their own opinion on the matter. The people around inside the church sat scattered around in different pews, with the more faithful crowding the pews closer to the front.

However, one spot beside a small family sat empty: The only thing place of where someone would be sitting is a small pocket bible with a flower on it. Pastor Peter makes a glance over in that direction briefly, while continuing to get heated with his sermon, sending some of the older folks into a frenzy of worship. His wooden leg seems to be holding him up well. Good enough that he's using his sturdy cane as more of a baton to shake and make is points clear, than to actually balance his self with it.

* * *

_3:45 p.m._

The service is finally over with for the day. Most of the parishioners have already gone out into the world to start the week with their own lives. It was quiet inside of the entirety of the church. Peter was in his office, the large worn chair he's in creaking as he reclines back in the seat. His eyes are closed in a deep thought, his mind reflecting back on that empty spot in the pew. The family who sat alongside it had a daughter at one time. She and the rest of them used to visit and take part in the church at least every week. But one day the young woman went missing. There was very little warning, or even a hint as to what happened or where she could have gone.

"Agatha… where ever you are, may the good Lord keep you safe." Peter quietly muses to himself, part of a small prayer to the Christian God. He glances over against the wall on his desk to a small group of photos. The biggest one of the lot is a large group picture of what appears to be at a picnic, with a large amount of the church members standing and posing, a reminder of the more happier times. A bit off to the side of one small group, was a smiling, dark-skinned woman with nice low-hanging curls in her hair. She was grinning from ear to ear, not much different with everyone else in the picture.

"Time sure does fly fast," Peter muses to his self as he stares at the photograph. "Agatha, how long as it been since your friends and family last saw you? Almost eight years it seems. Probably would be just as tall now as you were then." The Pastor chuckles as he opens a drawer; inside of it was an old steel flask. Even if he was a holy man, there are times when even the most stoic of individuals needs a little something to calm the nerves. Peter stares inside for a moment before closing it, deciding not to give in to temptation.

Just then, a soft knock is heard on his office door. Peter straightens himself out in his chair as he says aloud to the visitor. "Come in!"

The door opens and in walked in a shuffling pace a skinny, not-quite elderly woman. She was of African-American decent as well (like the majority of those who go to that church and reside in that neighborhood). Her hair was silver streaks in a lot of places, but still kept neat. Her large glasses shone briefly in the low light of the office before she goes and sits at a chair in front of the Pastor's desk.

"Louise Hawkins, what a pleasant surprise!" the Pastor greets his guest. "Is everything well for you today? I trust you enjoyed the afternoon service."

Louise gives a weak smile as she nods and responds. "It was fine, Peter. Sorry if I don't sound as joyful like everyone else did earlier."

"Well, that's no problem. Is something on your mind?"

Louise shifts in her seat as she sets down the oversized handbag she had on her person. She sighs a bit, with a bit of a morose tone in her voice. "My baby would be almost twenty-eight by now." Peter purses his lips as Louise continues on. "This past month I've been feeling it hard to get out of bed in the morning. Her birthday just passed. I…I'm scared I'll never be able to see my child again."

Peter sits there in a long silence. He leans forward against on his side of the desk, to get in close to the grieving mother, his hands clasped over one another in front of him. "Listen, I understand what you're going through. No one has given up hope of seeing Agatha again. No one, not me, not everyone in the church…"

"But…I miss her! I miss my baby! And it doesn't help that the damn cops won't even lift any more of a finger to help find her! I just _know _she's alive out there, somewhere! It's just…"

Louise would start to break down a bit in a sobs as Peter wheels his chair around alongside the woman. Despite being in her mid-fifties, stress and grieving over her missing daughter has taken its toll on the woman, aging her more rapidly than others of her age around. Peter gently takes her hands and clasps over them with his, rubbing to comfort the woman and working a small smile up at her.

"It's rough…I know. We've given them all the information we could, but if we hadn't heard anything, maybe nothing significant came up on their end? It's just a guess, I know. But I'm sure if something did get their attention, you would be the first to know, Mama Hawkins."

"I just don't trust them. I mean, it's as if they were so willing to write her off as a runaway, and that was around the time we filed her as a missing person. Even one of the secretaries was rude to us, saying 'there's more important things to be done.' And don't get me started on trying to contact one of those...capes. Not worth working with those things."

Peter sighs. "I believe most of those superheroes are doing their best within this world, with their God-given gifts."

Louise sniffles as she looks up at Peter. "You really think most of what they can do is God-given? I mean you no offense, Peter, but most of those and who they fight are just…it's scary to think about."

"Well, one was good enough to try to help out the cops in this town to look for your daughter in the first month."

Louise shakes her head. "That's not what I mean…and yes, I appreciate the help, but still. Goes against everything in the Bible seeing people go around, flying around, beating people up, using all manner of powers and such that's almost…like devil-work."

The Pastor frowns a bit but changes it into a smirk, patting the hands of the mother. "And what if it really is God's work to give everyone these gifts and powers? He created man and woman and look what all we've done through history. Besides, like I said earlier about the love thy neighbor talk. Many of us and our parents struggled through the Civil Rights movement to get us recognized. Why not those who are or even look different?"

Louise shuts her eyes for a moment, then opens them with a slow nodding of her head. "Yeah, I guess it was foolish of me to think like that. Guess my nerves are frayed after what happened with my daughter. I mean, would she have been kidnapped by one of the bad ones? All that we have left of her was her purse and her shoes inside of a burnt-out car. They didn't find any trace of her inside of it, or anywhere else within a few miles. I know my baby's out there someplace."

Peter takes a deep breath and smiles again at Louise. "Have faith. Deep in my heart I know she's out there someplace. All we can do at this point is keep praying, Mama Hawkins."

Louise finally cracks a smile and hugs the Pastor, the man reciprocating, before she slides out of the chair to gather her belongings. "Well, thank you for everything you have done for me and my family."

Peter waves dismissively, chuckling a bit. "Don't mention it. I'd do the same for a total stranger in similar circumstance."

Louise turns to the door before stopping suddenly. "Oh, one more thing, Peter?"

"What's that, Mama Hawkins?"

"Quit calling me 'Mama Hawkins.' It makes me feel old."

Peter gives off a jovial, gruff laugh at that as Louise Hawkins strolls out of the office. After a moment of silence, he wheels himself back to his desk to pull out another drawer. Inside of it was a host of meager newspaper clippings of the day Agatha Hawkins vanished. A pretty female attending college and was looking to be quite a success in life, only for one day fate to take her from the world, or someplace far away from her friends and family.

Peter shook his head. He remembers the investigations that seem to go nowhere. The police in the town talked to him a few times with Peter giving the same responses. No, he did not see the woman the day she was reported missing. No, she was gradually being sporadic in church attendance up to the perceived time of her disappearance. And no, she did not usually drive an old Chevy sedan…

The Pastor blinks once, as his mind races back to that incredibly sudden storm that night eight years ago. The night he found that little newborn mutant baby on the doorstep of the church, just like out of a cliché-ridden movie. He noticed a car driving off into the distance immediately after, but the rain was coming down so heavily back then, he could not make out the license plate or the _exact _shape of the car. However, something in the back of his mind kept nagging at him as he sifts through the clippings and photograph: The old car found by one of the hired heroes was that of a burnt-out husk, with only a pair of shoes and a small purse, one that had her, the only major piece identifying the owner was a driver's license inside. Besides that, no other traces as to any sort of body inside or around the vehicle, despite its condition.

Peter purses his lips again as he continues to reminisce events from years ago. Things may have been happy for most, but events just so happen to take quite a strange turn as well up to Agatha's disappearance: That one nearly otherworldly-looking man she appeared to have suddenly become acquainted with. Peter couldn't quite remember the name of the man, though it was, for some odd reason impossible to forget how he looked: Very well dressed, the few times he saw him the man always had on a nice suit. Clean-cut hairstyle which was a refresher compared to what most of the youths had on them at the time (it was the late 1980's, after all), a broad smile that seemed to diffuse any bad feelings upon seeing it, and the most striking of all were his eyes. They looked normal enough, but upon one close inspection while talking with the well-spoken man did the Pastor note there was a hint of violet in the color of his dark eyes. Agatha's mother and father, however, had more of an issue with the man's skin color, him being a dark-complexion Caucasian (which the Pastor had no issue with at all, though most of his congregation tended to learn towards the older generation who mostly just frowned on mixed race relations).

Peter recalled back in his mind how Agatha and the man were completely infatuated with one another. Surely he would be the one who would have presided over the wedding of the two should one come to pass. But one never did.

He frowns a bit…also recalling the lovely woman not appearing in church as often. Her family was getting worried about her behavior. The times she did go to church were very brief, an hour at the most before leaving out ahead of everyone else. Then one day, two months before vanishing she came crying to the Pastor about advice and help, as if Agatha was deathly worried about something. Peter had assumed (and was ready to call police on the matter) it was something that had gone sour between her and that man she was seeing, but she was very adamant that it was not him, but someone else. Peter met that someone else three weeks before the great storm. The man wore only an all-white suit, a paler skin tone on him that suggested white ancestry, slicked down hair that was jet-black in color. And those eyes…unlike those that of the man Agatha was seeing, this man's eyes were gold-flecked pupils. Striking to behold, but as of behind them was something much more sinister.

Never had Peter been more afraid of someone in his life, and he endured a literal hell on earth when he did two tours of Vietnam... The mysterious white-suited man only referred to himself as 'David.' He claimed to be looking for his brother, the one he assumed that Agatha was dating. Peter did not give up much information, as if he had much of anything to give in the first place. David just gave him a creepy smile, as if he knew he was on the right track on something, and walked out of the church. That momentary visit was enough to give the war-hardened Pastor some frightful nightmares for the next few days.

And then that storm happened weeks later. Peter thought to himself upon reflecting back. _Couldn't have been a coincidence, could it? Was Agatha's boyfriend and that…David mutants of some kind? And what of that night with that car that vaguely looked like what was found many miles away…_

Peter's shuts his eyes as he may have come to a realization about the events. He didn't want to think about it back then; he was too wrapped up in his church work. Too wrapped up in making sure the little girl in the Home is raised properly and grows up nicely. That little girl, Laura…

_Oh my God. Lord…can it really be true?_ Peter's head was spinning. It was right there in front of him. I was no coincidence. Something _terrible _had happened to Agatha, and in whatever mindset she was in back then, willingly gave up her child to him, so the little one would be safe. Agatha…she didn't look pregnant back then, but she wasn't showing up much in church. Didn't help her mom had a more gruff attitude during those weeks, up until when she vanished.

Peter closes the drawer of his desk holding the newspaper clippings, this time yanking out the drawer that held the flask. Prying it open, he takes a quick sip of the strong whiskey inside, before screwing the top back on and throwing it back inside. He leans over his desk, putting his hands on the sides of his head, contemplating his next move.

"Who's going to believe me? Where do I start with all of this…?" he comments to himself. One lone man of God, slumps back into his chair, reliving and thinking over memories of the past, feeling as if he has the weight of the world on his shoulders; a world in which he feels ill-prepared to deal with. But deal with it, he damn well will.


	6. Chapter 5

_July 1, 1992_

"Oh God, **aaaaaah**!" screamed Laura as she had just taken a particularly brazen dive off the side of the cliff towards the river below. Her eyes were wide with fear, but in mere seconds before hitting the water her wings were already fully expanded and letting the physics of air do their thing to give her lift. Her tail reacts accordingly to help with the process, as well as that mysterious extra gust of wind around her, as if nature itself was giving Laura a helping hand, lifting her away from the water and sending her flying forward low across the water!

"Eeeeeeeeek!" screamed the mutant girl, though she does her best to keep her hands still, stretched forward in front of her in the pose of a traditional flying superhuman. The trails leading up the hills already sent shivers down her spine before, but what she's doing now would probably give most people triple her age a heart attack. Her tail skims across the surface of the river before she pulls herself up, just enough to not crash into the bank on the other side. Another grunt and a bit of doing her best to pull herself up, Laura manages to fly low across the grassy clearing on the other side of the riverbank, before clumsily putting her feet down to land. She hops a few times, trips and with one more "Eek!" sound out of her, falls squarely on her belly, comically sliding across a couple of feet, dirtying her shirt in the process.

Crystal (Chris as she prefers when around her friends), the tall thirteen year old, flanked by a couple of other girls ran up to Laura, who for the moment remained sprawled out on the grass. Chris immediately stoops down to grasp Laura's arm to help her up.

"That was RAD! You flew across the entire river!" Chris exclaims, giving the still-stunned chimera a hug.

"That looked like fun! What was it like up there?" Mackenzie (Mack to her friends) asks. She goes to the other side of Laura to help dust off her shirt. She is an auburn-haired girl roughly the same age as Crystal, though shorter by a degree, wearing a similar tomboyish attire perfect for playing outdoors.

The third, Joanna, looks across the river to the trails and from the point where Laura launched herself. "Doesn't look like anyone else saw us. We should be good, I think." Joanna is a light-skinned black girl, about a year older than Laura. She scans most of the banks and the park trails that are visible from their location before finally turning her attention to Laura and the other two girls.

Laura was busy panting, her tail wagging some in a moment of self-triumph. Her hair was tired back in a couple of long pigtails, clearly showing off her antelope-like horns growing out of her head, now with both of those things reaching three inches in height and taking on a dark-brown boney color. Her ears would no longer look like ears in a traditional sense, but seem to resemble fins on the side of her head, growing outward. And of course, her velvety, mocha-colored fur that covers the mutant girl from head-to-toe now has some striping around her arms, more around her chest and plenty down her three-foot tail, giving her the look of a symmetrical tabby. All in all, despite her mish-mash in mutations, Laura's growth was quite uniform and far from fearsome or unpleasing to the eyes.

"I...I can't believe I did something like that!" Laura squeals, finally turning around to see how far she traveled. Her eyes widen as she notes that she didn't just go straight across the water, but also at an angle, causing the meta-human to realize she flown further than intended. She squeals happily towards the trio!

"Hey, now I need to get myself a pair of those wings!" Chris beams at the giddy chimera, while ruffling through Laura's feathers on her wings (which have now grown to be about as large as her body and wider than she is tall when fully spread out). "You wasn't scared, were you?"

Laura pauses, her eyes growing wide at Chris. "Yes, of course I was scared! For a whole minute I thought I was gonna fall into the water!"

"We would've gotten you out!" Mack interjects. "We'll just say you tripped and fell into the river or something."

"Eww, and probably be forced to go to a doctor and get shots or something! That water is nasty!" Laura says, making a face and sticking her tongue out. Her tongue just happens to grow out way longer than a normal human, stretching out three inches more than what a regular person would have.

Chris's eyes widen at seeing that. "Dang girl, you almost like a lizard!"

Laura quickly retracts her tongue. "Say what? I don't wanna be a lizard!"

Joanna quickly gets between everyone, looking at her watch. "Hey, I think we should get back to the rest of everyone before they start wanting to know where we were at."

Chris nods, helping Laura brush off as much of the grass and dirt on her clothes as possible. "Yeah, Jo's right. Come on, we need to get back."

The girls quickly make it back to the rest of the group home people, the other kids of various ages between seven and fifteen gathered around the adults doing a headcount. One of the adults, Lindsay, spots Laura and the rest of her friends running up to the rest of them, all of them out of breath.

"Now, where were _you _four at? You lot should have been here ten minutes ago." Lindsay says, a slightly gruff tone coming from her voice. She then gets a good look at Laura and notes a few earthen stains on the front of the mutant's shirt. "And what happened to you?"

Laura puts her hands behind her back, tail wagging behind her as she gives Lindsay the cutest smile she has ever mustered before. "Nothing, ma'am! Just fell down near the playground further back. I'm fine!"

Lindsay raises an eyebrow at Laura, looking over the other three. The other girls don't offer any other input, letting Laura's words sink in before she finally gives a shrug. "Alright, fine. Throw that in the laundry room when we get back. And next time no running off from out of sight when we're on trips like this!"

All four of the girls nod and shout in unison. "Yes, ma'am!"

One of the male administrators walks up to the heavyset Lindsay, having some words with her, before a whistle is blown by one of the others. Lindsay waves her arms around to get everyone's attention.

"Alright, picnic's over! Everyone get back on the buses, it's time to head back!"

All of the kids are lined up and sent to assigned busses based on age. Laura is an exception, as due to the younger kids messing with her too much she's given special permission to be with the older ones, especially around Chris. She, Laura and Mack boarded one of the busses while Joanna boards a separate one. Laura adeptly keeps her wings folded against her back as she scampers onto the bus, going to sit near the back next to a window, with Chris and Mack a step behind, setting into their chosen seats right next to and across from the chimera.

"Wonder what'll be in the kitchen later in the evening?" Mack idly asks, removing a scrunchie from her hair, letting her hair out and hanging at shoulder-length.

Chris turns her head down to the floor to sneeze, causing one of the other passengers on the bus to emit a 'Bless you.' "Thanks. I think it's spaghetti tonight, or that's what the menu said."

Laura and Mack both make faces and go in unison "Eww!"

"Greg's not a good cook! The stuff's too bland! The school's pasta is better than what he cooks up!" Laura says out loud. However due to some of the bus windows being down and everyone talking all at once, she was only heard by those nearest the mutant.

"For real," says Chris, playing with an errant feather from Laura's wing, looking over the brown and white-striped patterns. "But he can make some good barbeque, and the Fourth of July is coming up on Saturday!"

Both of the girls make an 'ooh-ing' sound response to that.

"Think they'll take us to beside the river when night comes?"

Chris and Mack both shoot Laura a look. Out of the two of them, or anyone else in the Home, Laura so far has the (somewhat) dubious record of being the only child there from birth who was never placed in a foster home of any type. Her tail curls around her waist a bit as she looks on at her friends.

"Well, they did it last year, and the year before, yeah. Don't see why not again this time?" Laura shrugs. "Maybe they might let us shoot a few fireworks of our own. Who knows?" Chris then plucks an errant feather hanging off one of Laura's wings at an odd angle, with the mutant girl blinking in surprise before the spunky girl starts to wave it against Laura's face, tickling her nose! Laura quickly bursts into a giggling fit.

The ride back to the Home didn't take any more than fifteen minutes.

* * *

_6:15 p.m._

The sun in the very early hours of the evening was still hanging high enough in the sky as most of the group home occupants, both the kids and the adults, were busy with chores in and around the building. Laura was in her room doing her own set of chores of cleaning out her room and rearranging things. She now has a large assortment of pictures hanging on the walls of her bedroom; most of those are of the mutant girl with her newfound friends. Chris she had met a year earlier, Joanna came by at intermittent times a couple of months after, and Mack knew of Chris a while back as well. All three were willing to do what most of the other kids who reside at the home never attempted to bother with: Make friends with the mutant girl Laura. It helps she was more interesting than the rest and that unlike the possibility of the others, the chimera girl would more than likely remain a permanent fixture of this household.

Laura stares at the photos of her friends, all taken via Polaroid camera. _Yeah, permanent fixture around here alright, _she thought to herself. Some of the girls and boys she did talk to during the time she grew up have literally come and gone. This place was supposed to be temporary for most kids, whether they come from broken homes (the possible case of Chris) or awaiting their fate via the foster care system (Joanna and Mack). Laura? The few times she inquired about her own situation, whether if one day she would be adopted or even placed in a foster home her own self, the girl was simply dismissed and told to not think about her situation too hard. She was getting better care here than anyone else, possibly even around the country. To a girl her age, Laura interpreted that response as 'no one likes or cares for a freak like me.' The best she can do for herself, and more so since she now had some (for the while) stable friends, she does her best to put on a smile and keep herself upbeat. Some days make it hard, but it's a lot better than moping around all day, every day. Besides, with all the various kids with different issues, Laura had seen quite enough of those who had some _massive _behavioral issues, either random bouts of anger or sadness. Gets quite depressing seeing that enough times per month.

The young mutant girl quickly glances behind her at the mouse plush sitting on a chair on one end of her room. Its synthetic brown fur is worn in places and losing a little bit of color, the plastic eyes need to be cleaned of the dust that likes to stick to it and part of the tail needs to be sewn onto the base of the body again. Laura grunts a bit as her tail reaches out to curl around the stuffed mouse, picking it up and bringing it to her. Her tail was quickly becoming more dexterous and prehensile, able to grasp and pull on things, though anything more than five pounds she's unable to lift. But it was also quite sturdy now, as there were a couple of times when a goofball of a kid decides to be cute and pull on her tail, which now she's able to retaliate via a quick whip-like snap towards the offender. Luckily due to past experiences with people messing with her tail (not just kids!), most of the adults who take care of everyone at the Home are immediately sympathetic to Laura.

Laura has the mouse plushy in her hands tossing it up and down a few times, smiling and laughing a bit, when she hears some voices outside of her door. Giving her old favorite toy a kiss on the head, she plants it on the center of her bed before going up and opening her door to see what's going on outside of it.

"Mr. Cole, please listen. That girl will need a stable home down the line real soon. She's been here way longer than any other child at this facility. Why are we keeping her here for this long? Many others who are orphaned have been here at the most, half the number of years she has before either being placed in a foster home or a permanent one!" Lindsay huffs as she lays out a passionate position in front of the rotund man with the hasty comb-over.

That man, Mr. Cole, holds up his hands in a slightly defensive gesture, and also in an attempt to settle down one of his employees. "Lindsay, I know you care so much about the girl. A number of people here do as well. But you must know how hard it is to find a good home for our more _unique _charges. There is already a backlog in the system to get some of the long-term occupants here where they need to go. Just that, in her case…"

"So _what_, sir? Just a couple of months ago we made the news about her and how long we had her here and her story about how she was found! Myself and the others had numerous requests about the girl, and-"

Mr. Cole shakes his head. "And do what, exactly? Most of them would not know of how to take care of a mutant girl. We're practically the only ones in the state who have resources for a child with her unique traits."

Lindsay looks like she's about to fume, her voice starting to quiver a bit. "There are a few cases of powered children in this state of Texas already, _Roger._ The parents of those children, as well as some of the local agencies in those cities are working closely with that PRIMUS (Paranormal Research and Investigation Mission of the United States) to make sure those kids are given the respect they deserve and help with the powers they are born with! Yet how come we can't get their help? Or why _won't _we?"

Mr. Cole simply smirks as he places his hands behind his back. "Well, for one, not everyone around the country trusts in that PRIMUS group. I'm one of the ones who thinks they have too much to hide from the public about all of their methods. I mean, who's to say they aren't trying to breed weapons out of those children they seem to be trying to help out…"

"Roger Cole!" Lindsay exclaimed with a loud gasp.

Cole shrugs. "It might be true. How would the likes of you know? Anyways, Laura is safe and sound here. When I feel the time is right, then we can go through the right channels so that she can one day find a home, but until then…"

Lindsay is looking past the pot-bellied man's shoulder, as Mr. Cole finally takes notice and turns around to see the eight-year old staring up at the two of them, her huge violet eyes shining in the light of the hallway.

"Why is everyone arguing?" Laura asks innocently enough, her feline-pupil eyes darting back and forth between Lindsay and Mr. Cole, lingering on him briefly.

The portly man clears his throat as he, rather slowly, stoops down to the young mutant girl. "Hey, it's nothing. We're just having a grown-up discussion, that's all. How have you been doing, little Miss?"

Laura blinks at the man with her huge eyes, her tail swishing a couple of times behind her. Her wings press further into her back as she gives a fleeting glance at Lindsay, before looking back at the man. "I'm fine, Mister Cole. I was just cleaning up my room is all."

Mr. Cole smiles as he gives Laura a pat on the head, taking care to not touch her thin antlers. "Hey, how about you find your friends here and play with them for a little while? I think you had enough chores for the day, wouldn't you agree?"

Laura blinks up at the man again, before nodding wordlessly and dashing off down the hallway. Lindsay glances behind her as the chimera passes her by, before turning to look Mr. Cole in the eye. "She's a lot smarter than you take her for. I know for a fact that she heard everything we said in regards to her."

Cole barks a laugh for a moment, standing back up, his joints popping in his legs. "Nonsense, she just barely came out of her room then. She could not have heard much of anything we had to say. Besides, what is she going to do?"

Lindsay huffs once, before turning to leave. "I have something to do for the evening anyways, _sir_. We'll talk another time." Before Cole can get in another word edge-wise, Lindsay was already down the hall and deep in one of the other rooms.

Mr. Cole growls under his breath once, grabbing a stress ball out of his pocket and giving it a death squeeze. _Already got rid of Doris over this mess and now Lindsay's running her mouth! This is getting to be too much trouble! _The man breathes steadily as he puts the worn ball back in his pocket. _Damn women always getting in the way of money to be made. As long as there's money to be made in keeping that filthy mutant creature here… Next check should be coming in the next couple of months. Do not need PRIMUS mucking things up. _The fat man goes down one of the adjacent hallways and turns a corner, making a quick sprint towards the bathroom and immediately plunging his hands in the sink, washing furiously.

_That thing's got diseases on her. Don't know why I put my hands on it._


	7. Chapter 6

_July 23, 1992_

The Battle of Detroit

In Detroit, Michigan, a power armor-wearing mad scientist and would-be megalomaniac, Doctor Destroyer, launched a devastating campaign which threatened countless lives from the state to the world over. Various costumed and super-powered heroes congregated together in orderto defeat the evil man and his mixed-army of robotic soldiers and super-powered humans. In the end, the villain behind it all was defeated and presumed dead, but not without cost: thousands of innocent lives and dozens of heroes of all types lost their lives that day.

The news reverberated across the globe, with constant telecasts talking about the great battle and what the government, including those of other countries are doing to help everyone out in the aftermath.

Despite doing their best to keep the younger kids out of the loop, the news of the horrific event still reached the Home in Texas. All of the children there were quite chatty about what happened that day, especially Laura and her friends. It was hard to _not _talk about such a monumental event, perpetrated by a destructive man, who in previous years attempted similar tactics to subjugate the world. While the adults and administrators of the group home worried about the young kids' thought-processes behind the Battle, amongst the children, it was almost business as usual. As long as these things didn't hit home, there was nothing to be worried about!

"Laura, you ever think of wanting to become a superhero one day?" Chris asks, helping Laura with one of her pigtails that had gotten loose while playing outside a few minutes earlier. Both girls were in the main den area of the group home, with everyone else wandering about or doing specified chores for the day.

"Uh, I dunno! I never really thought about it! I mean, don't you have to have cool powers or something to be like, one of them?" Laura stares at her small hands, with little claws at the end of her fingertips. "I mean, I don't have any cool powers, besides having big wings and horns and stuff. I'm not very strong. I feel like I want more cool stuff if I want to go around saving people left and right and all that."

"Well, what about if someone falls off a building or something?" Chris suggests, shrugging a bit as she works on Laura's second pigtail.

"And how would I know _when_ someone falls off of something? I mean, I can…" Laura pauses before quieting her voice. "I can fly and all that, but I can't lift very much while flying. The other day I tried, I almost fell like a rock."

Chris sighs, as she puts the finishing touches on Laura's hair, straightening out the mutant-girl's pigtails. "Well, maybe you aren't done growing out stuff yet. I mean, you have a pretty long tail and a lot of other stuff on you. Don't think you might have something else on you, is there?"

"What? No! At least, I don't know! I keep asking people, but they just said I shouldn't worry about it too much unless it starts to hurt and stuff. I never felt like anything is hurting, but not being able to wear the shirts I want to wear without putting big holes in them is depressing."

"I hear ya. I was just saying is all. I think you might be a cool superhero. Or that's what I think!"

Laura turns around and beams at Chris, both girls sharing a laugh. Indeed, from the outset, one would think nothing is wrong with this scene.

* * *

_August 9, 1993_

It had been a number of months since that faithful day. Last summer was rich with friends and near endless fun with Laura's group. During the times when she, Chris and the others are able to go off on their own, Laura (now ten years of age, and growing up fast) would be out at the park, taking great care to not let anyone see her as she braves the tall cliffs, leaping off and spreading her wings wide to glide around above the landscape. The mutant girl no longer fears of failure of herself, now fully confident in her ability to do what most kids would dream of.

However, she still had one reality to face: She was still part of the group Home that had been her _only _home as far back as she was born. The closest adult relationships she ever had with anyone was with that nice Pastor Peter, but he has not been coming around to see her as often as he did over a year ago. His wife, Ruby, mentioned to Laura once that he was very sick, but would try to call her every once in a while to assure the little mutant girl he would still remain in touch. However those phone calls were few and far between, and even more strange was that her letters never seem to be delivered to him.

Even more taxing on Laura's life, is that due to the nature of the group Home, there was no guarantee from the get-go that any of the kids there would remain with her, the longest-staying child in the whole center. Chris came close to winding up in Juvenile detention after one-too many bouts of getting caught shoplifting (which Laura played accomplice to, but the older girl took the fall entirely upon herself). Mackenzie went through a foster home before being brought back to the group House. In only a few short months while she was at that foster home, _something _happened to her that she refuses to speak about, and because of such became more introverted. Seems the only people she's willing to talk to and open-up with are indeed Laura and Chris.

Joanna, the third girl of the trio that Laura knows, seemed to have been lucky enough to end up in a foster home that loved the orphaned girl so much (both her parents died in a car-accident, and what few relatives she had were ill-suited to take care of her) that they eventually adopted her out of the system. Later in the year, her new family moved out of the state, of course taking Jo with them.

The biggest straw (in Laura's eyes) was that the one parental administrator who took the most care of her and argued in her favor numerous times, despite her hard-ass personality. Lindsay was always on the lookout for Laura, even if she did treat the girl a bit roughly (but then again, she treated all of the kids there about the same). There were rumors that the head president of the Home, Mr. Cole had fired her a few months back. A new person hand-picked by Cole was put in Lindsay's position to monitor the kids, and especially Laura. Problem was, that man was not very friendly, even acted like a mad drill sergeant at times! The mutant girl (still the only one in the group Home of eighty kids) did not care to learn his name, even if he barked orders for her to do her chores and at times making snide remarks about her extra attributes. Laura's hearing was exceptional, so as an unfortunate side-effect, a lot of little sound details do not escape her notice. There have been _plenty _of people who whispered about her behind her back, and after the Battle of Detroit incident, majority of those whispers were not in a positive light, even among the other kids in the home.

There was one thing that the young chimera girl yearned for. Laura had the wings and the capability to do so, but is quite scared. She yearned to see more of the outside world. All of the field trips around the town did not count for her, and compounding things was the fact that most of the school field-trips had been denied permission to take her anywhere that was outside the city limits. This frustrated Laura to no end, at times causing her to act out and finally get into some trouble with the adults, including a couple of stern talking-tos from that creepy Mr. Cole. She _never _got any sort of good vibes from seeing that overweight, bald man. Even worse, due to her hearing and the whispers from others around the Home, it was almost an open-secret that he definitely did not like Laura, due to her being a mutant. And it was possible not many of the other staff members cared for her as well, only doing enough of their job to keep her housed and feed her and that was it. Very little interaction, aside from the girls she hangs around with. When there was no schoolwork, and her friends were busy with other chores or away someplace else, Laura spent countless amounts of time reading various books and encyclopedias about the surrounding states in the U.S., wondering what it would be like to live in someplace like sunny California, or even a big city that's known to hold a lot of mutants and supers, like New York! Anywhere but boring-old Texas, that's for sure.

Sometimes she just wishes to leap up and fly far away someplace. Perhaps get some answers about why she never had any parents or relatives. Perhaps one day she might get lucky.

Laura lies in her bed, her room (the only private room any kid gets within the Home, which only serves to drive up more jealousy towards the mutant) now heavily decorated with various photos of her friends, including some of Peter and his wife, as well as a couple of Lindsay and an older one of Joy. The mutant girl is holding onto her old mouse plush, one of the few toys she has owned as far back as she could remember. It had gone through numerous repairs, but just having it reminded Laura of times when she didn't have to think about so many things. But even if things were to become rough, the mouse plushie will be her constant, no matter what.

Outside of her room, down the hallway and past several rooms was an argument of some kind going on. Various voices were yelling at each other at a pretty high volume. Laura's fin-like ears twitched. Even if most of the walls were designed to help dampen noises between the various rooms, she could hear everything quite clearly. Groaning a bit in frustration, she turns over in her bed, raising the ends of the pillows against her ears to do her best to drown out the noise.

About five minutes later, a rapid series of knocks are heard on her door, as well as a familiar voice.

"Lemme in, Laura! Lemme in! Please!"

Laura blinks as she turns to the door, and hurries to open it. The thin wooden door flies open and nearly bowls over her as Chris barges into her room, taking a quick look behind her before quickly and very quietly shutting the door behind her.

"Chris, what's going on?" Laura manages to stammer out, surprised at how fast her friend barged in.

Chris puts a hand over Laura's mouth as she lets out a shush sound. After a moment's pause, she lets go of Laura to sit on her bed, head bowed. "Dad's here."

Laura's violet, feline eyes widen in surprise at hearing this from her! "Dad? Your dad? He is?"

Chris nods and looks right at Laura, her own eyes wide as if from shock. "Laura, I don't want to go anywhere with him! He's part of the reason I was here in the first place!"

Laura's eyes remain open in surprise, at the suddenness of what she's being hit by. Her tail swishes behind her a few times in anxiousness. "But… you hardly talk about him! Why? What's wrong? Is he bad or something?"

Chris sighs, a desperate look carved in her facial features. "I do not want to go back him! Laura! Can't you like, fly me out of here or something? I don't want to go back to that house! Not back to him or mom! They're all crazy!" Chris says this as she gets back up from the bed and grabs Laura by her thin shoulders, shaking her!

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Stop it!" Laura exclaims, quickly shoving back away from Chris. "I thought I told you, I can't carry much of anything while I'm flying! Most I managed was just a big backpack!"

Chris looks shocked, but of course realizing what she was asking of her friend, she goes over to the side of Laura's bed and sinks down in the corner, sobbing. Laura looks over at her friend, never before seeing her so broken in the time that they knew each other, and wastes little in the way of words as she goes over and sits next to Chris. Furrowing her brow, she then leans and gives her a tight hug!

"I… I just don't want to go back over there. Dad's meaner than a bull, and he likes to drink. And mom's always too scared of him to do much of anything. I… I don't want to go back!"

Laura blinks with her large eyes as she continues to hug her friend, who is now letting out a steady stream of waterworks. "Well, why are they letting you go with them if they're so bad? I thought you told me they took you away from-"

Chris shakes her head. "No, I kinda lied about that. They didn't take me away from them… I ran away from them. They got mad, and called the cops… and then I ended up being put here to help 'straighten out' my behavior. Assholes."

Laura continues to hug on Chris, before slowly pulling away. "Oh. I'm sorry. But…maybe they changed? Can't you say that they treat you badly at home or something?"

"Tried that. Even when I was at the hospital from having my arm broke by my dad. He's got too much money."

Laura didn't seem to catch-on to that remark about too much money, but she goes to hug her friend again, saying softly to her to help calm her down. "Don't worry. No matter what happens, I'll still want to be friends with you no matter what."

Chris sobs once more and nods. "I… I don't know what to do. I don't want to have to run away again-"

"CRYSTAL!" a voice from outside Laura's room shouts out. Heavy footsteps thud towards the mutant's room, with the voice talking with two others are more audible, getting closer and closer.

Both girls freeze in place as Laura's door flies open again. Mr. Cole and two other Caucasian males flanking him barge into her room. One of the men, a _very _imposing person of roughly six-feet in height, quickly scans the room, spotting Chris in the corner, with a wide-eyed Laura right beside her.

"Who the hell is _that_?" the huge imposing man asks. Mr. Cole clears his throat as he makes a very brief introduction.

"Don't worry, Jones. It's just the lone mutant girl that resides here." Cole clears his throat again, giving Laura an indignant look as the huge Jones lurches past him and reaches over the bed. "Come _here_, Crystal!"

Chris gives a pained shout as her arm is forcefully grabbed, Jones literally pulling her over the bed and forcing her to stand up. Laura's tail lashes around as she stands up, her face contorted in anger.

"You're hurting her! Leave her alone!"

Jones pauses a moment as Chris sobs, giving little Laura a steely-eyed look. The other man, a brown-haired individual speaks up.

"Laura Forrest. This is none of your business. Your friend's stay here is over. I advise you to keep quiet until this is all said and done."

Mr. Cole does his best to keep a smirk from forming on his face. "Could not have said it better myself, Stephen. Yes, don't worry, little Miss Forrest. Chris is just going back home is all. You two will be able to see each other during the school year."

Jones lets out a 'hmph' sound as he pulls his daughter out of the room, Chris still making all manner of fuss, making it clear that she does not want to go anywhere!

"No, I don't want to go back! Stop, daddy!"

"Quit squirming or I'll have you put in Juvenile!" Jones snarls at her. He glances back at Cole and Stephen, before doing his best to beat a hasty retreat down the hallway.

"No! Leave her alone, you mean man!" Laura snaps this out, her bright eyes wide and gleaming! She has her little hands balled up in tight fists, as if she intends to do something physical.

Jones turns around, with Chris eyeing Laura tearfully. His face was completely red with rage as he shoots a death-glare at Laura, and then glancing down at his daughter, then back at Laura and the two men of the group Home. "And you need to do something about that _freak _over there all on my girl, you hear me?!"

Stephen blinks as Mr. Cole clears his throat. "It's no trouble, really. I'm sure Laura follows the rules here just like all the other kids we have."

Jones grunts in response, turning around before dragging Chris behind him. The poor girl looks back at Laura, whispering something inaudible to the adults, before the two vanish around the corner. The outburst has attracted some attention from a few of the staff and the other kids that were there, with a few heads poking out of some of the rooms here and there. Stephen stares at some of the kids and barks an order. "Nothing to see! Back in your rooms!"

Then the brown-haired man with semi-sunken features in his face turns to Laura. "As for you… do not leave this room for the rest of the day."

Laura stammers a protest. "But, he was hurting her-"

Stephen raises a hand, cutting off the ten-year-old. "I do not care. That matter did not concern you one bit. I'll think of a suitable punishment for you later. But if I catch you outside of here for the rest of the day."

"But, what about dinner?" Laura's tail behind her is fanning the air in agitation and a bit of fear.

Stephen eyes narrow as he shakes his head. "Someone will bring something to you. Keep talking back, however, and I'll reconsider even that. Do you hear me?"

Laura stands still, her tail stopping its motions as she simply stares back at the man she has quickly grown to dislike as well as of Cole.

"I said, do you hear me? I can make very well sure you'll have the bulk of the chores all the way till the start of school."

Laura gulps and nods. "I hear you, Stephen. I'm sorry."

Mr. Cole gives Stephen a pat on his shoulder, before looking at Laura once, forcing a smile on his face, before he departs away. Stephen takes his time to look around Laura's room, then at the girl, before finally leaving, shutting the door behind him.

About ten minutes pass as Laura stands there, completely stunned at what all just transpired. She silently repeats the last words that she heard from Chris.

"…Good bye."

Laura feels on her face, her eyes letting out some tears as she flops onto her bed, squeezing her mouse plush toy to death as she sobs into it.

If only she knew things are only going to get harder from here on out.


	8. Chapter 7

_October 14, 1996_

A strange, teenage humanoid chimera is leaned back in a plastic chair, which thankfully has a hole on the seat of it for her tail to run through. She is wearing a loose pair of calf-length shorts, with just enough wiggle room as to not rub up too much against the thin pelt of velvet, striped fur that covers most of her body. From afar, the look and pattern of the fuzz would easily be mistaken for her skin (which, underneath the pelt, is the same color, a mocha-brown). The girl's feet are propped up on a table, the toenails shaped like small claws, giving the look of someone with a more bestial outdoor look. She is not wearing shoes, the sandals the girl had on earlier are at the foot of the chair she is sitting in. Her long, extremely prehensile tail darts around behind her this way and that, looking roughly over four-feet in length. Heavily striped, just like the rest of her, the tail ends at a hairy tuft that gives it the look of one that would look fitting on a lion.

Up a bit higher, the humanoid chimera is sporting a dull-colored halter top, which for most of her age would not seem appropriate to wear (seeing as how she's thirteen years of age). However, the reason quickly becomes obvious as on her back in-between her shoulders sit a pair of powerful wings, like that of a feathered bird. The wings are as close to as big as she is, with feathers patterned more loosely after her brown-and-white striped skin. One added bonus to her extra appendage, just like her tail, is that her wings are also quite flexible, as currently due to her sitting position they are folded tightly against her back, leaving enough room so that she is able to sit comfortably on the plastic chair.

The most striking feature on the girl, aside from her wings and tail, are her eyes. Her eyes sport a very striking violet color, accented by her slit pupils, just like a feline. Her ears are shaped like frills, similar to that of a lizard. Those extend outward from her round, chocolate-colored face. Her hair is of medium length, tied into two loose pigtails that hang low near her shoulders. On the top of her head sticking through her head, are two thin antlers, similar to that of an antelope.

Sitting right next to Laura in another seat is slightly older girl, dressed in a gothic-like attire, the extremes of black and white clashing heavily and making her stand out just as much when next to the chimera. Her fiery red-dyed hair would be equally as long as the chimera-girl's, but is pinned tightly against her scalp. She's also wearing a pair of torn jeans, along with a shirt of some obscure underground band. In another contrast to the chimera's lack of shoes, the gothic girl is wearing a pair of heavy boots.

The both of them glance at each other, before looking around at their surroundings: The room the two are located in is packed with kids of various high-school ages, milling about in the large cafeteria. This scene would look most typical across the country in the various schools: Different groups (and races) of the kids sitting with one another, gossiping and chatting about the things that happened during the day, or the day before, or what may happen later on in the week. The only noticeable thing that sets this place apart from the rest of the cafeteria is the very small group of kids sitting at the table where the chimera and the gothic one are located.

"Hey, don't want to eat that, Laura?" one of the kids asks. This one is a chubby Caucasian person, who tends to chow down on most of whatever's in front of him. But then again, when you're the linebacker for the high school football team…

Laura looks over the big guy and shrugs, along with a shake of her head. "Naw, you can have it. Not even feeling hungry right now."

The gothic girl snickers some, looking over Laura's plate as the big guy grabs a chunk of her pizza. The 'food' in question was dripping with yellow grease, but that seemed to matter little to the large guy as he starts to chow down on it. "Willis, dude, you're gonna get yourself a heart attack if you keep eating that crap!"

Willis simply looks at the gothic girl and grins at her. "Hey, I'm _still _a growing boy! Besides, I gotta keep myself in shape for the big game next week. I intend to squash the Q-B when I get my hands on 'em! Besides, Mack, you ain't even ate your own stuff."

Mackenzie glances down at her own plate: A half-eaten hamburger sits, though it seems everything else on her tray, the fries and fruit, was already consumed. "So what? I'm on a diet."

Laura blinks her large eyes, looking at Mack: "Diet? Since when? I've seen you snacking on those chips all day in social studies class."

A fourth kid in the group raises his head. He's of a light-brown complexion with short, curly hair and is wearing a thin pair of glasses. Below him in his lap is a book he was apparently reading. "I don't think the teacher cares. Heck, I've seen people bartering stuff in there back and forth while he was teaching. He said they'll pay for not paying attention to him later on the week, though."

Laura looks over at the young man. "Quiz coming up, huh?"

"Yep."

Mack rolls her eyes, looking over and messing with one of Laura's loose feathers on her wing. "I can pass that class in my sleep. This shit's boring as hell."

The black glasses-wearing guy looks at Mack: "You mean just like math class, which you keep asking me for help on?"

Mack shoots a glare at the guy. "Watch it, Terrance."

Terrance raises an eyebrow in response. "Hey, it's not like everyone else doesn't know… I mean, aren't you supposed to be a senior this year?"

Mack's glare at Terrance intensifies, but Laura waves a hand in front of Mack's face to break her angry concentration. "Cool it, you. Terrance, you sure have a way with girls, you know what?"

Terrance blinks and glances down at his book, shutting it. "Sorry, Mack…"

Mack simply huffs in response. The whole group sat at the table in relative silence, compared to everything else going on around them, when a couple of taller guys stroll towards the table. One of them has a tray full of the day's food: Extra-greasy lasagna. The duo whisper to one another for a moment, before strolling past behind the chair Laura was sitting in.

"Oops!" the guy holding the tray exclaims, as he appears to lose is balance, the tray falling out of his hands. The contents of the try find themselves falling all onto Laura's back, just as she had leaned forward in her seat. Her eyes flare open in shock as the still-warm pasta is wasted down her back and part of the base of her wings. Her whole body seizes up, the tail stiffening as the others at the table look on in equal amounts of disbelief.

"Oh shit, oh shit, I'm sorry!" the guy who spilled the contents onto Laura quickly spits out. His apparent friend stood a few steps away, doing his best but is terrible in trying to keep from laughing. Most of the kids sitting closest to the table are now also looking, some of the kids snickering a bit, others watching intently for a reaction.

Instead, it was Mack who jumps up with a start, scowling at the guy: "Hey, watch where you're going with that!"

The guy, a lanky white kid, who is rather tall for his age, puts up his hands in defense. "Hey wait, it was an accident, I'm sorry! I said I was sorry." A few of the other kids in the cafeteria laugh a little at that.

Laura is now glaring back at the person, her eyes ever-so bright. She sniffles once to stifle her tears. "You did that on purpose! Look at your friend laughing over there!"

The other guy, a rather muscular, tanned brunette, quickly stops laughing and takes immediate offense: "Hey, watch it you _freak_. I ain't the one that put him up to that!"

A few of the kids emit gasps as Willis stands up, looking over both guys, the other muscled one in particular. "Hey, Thomas, I heard you whispering for a bit before he threw the food at Laura."

The first guy's face turns red, most of anger, as he too glares at Willis: "Hey, fat-ass, I said I was sorry! She can just get her furry-ass cleaned up of all that!"

"Yeah, by licking it probably," A random student commented, causing a few others in the nearby area to chuckle. Laura's tail and her wings shake a bit as she tries to stand up. Terrance glances around everyone, and quickly looks back down on the floor right as a couple of faculty members run up to the confrontation to see what was going on.

"Everyone cut the crap out! What's going on here?" the loud voice of a balding, black male in a rather old-fashioned suit bellows, quickly silencing almost everyone in the cafeteria.

Willis, Mack, the two guys and Laura freeze, all looking at the authority figure. The other person flanking him, the school security guard, looks closely at Laura, before glancing behind her and seeing the mess. Laura looks back up at the guard, sniffling once.

"So what happened here? Tell us or the whole lot of you are going to get lunch detention." The black man in the suit looks over everyone.

Laura points at the kid who had the tray. "He spilled that food all over me, Mr. Thompson." Her tail fans the air in agitation while her accuser looks over Laura with contempt, but then quickly stiffens up when Thompson looks dead-at the young man."

"Devan, did you do this? Was it an accident?" Mr. Thompson's eyes bore into the young man. Devan quickly gathers himself, shuffling his feet once.

"It- it was an accident." Devan finally manages to spit out. "I said I was sorry!"

Willis's face turns a humorous color of red, contrasting heavily with his originally pale-colored skin. "What?! I heard Thomas daring you to throw that on Laura! You liar!"

Devan's eyes widen as Thomas steps forward, clearly angry. "What's it to you, you sack of-!"

The big guys step up as close as possible to each other in intimidation, though the security guy manages to stop everyone in their tracks. Mack pulls Laura back a bit, checking out the mess left on her back, trying to help the chimera girl with wiping some of the chunky meat sauce away.

"Everyone stop or I'm throwing all of you in ISS," the security guard sternly warns. He's a stout, Hispanic-decent male, a bit shorter than Mr. Thompson but noted for being a former weightlifter and someone to _not _mess around with.

Mr. Thompson shoots an agitated glare at Willis, who backs down a bit, then looks over the rest of the group. "I didn't see what all happened over here. But I'mma say this, if I hear of any more trouble from you two…" he says, pointing at both Devan and Thomas. "Then someone's going to be cleaning the cafeteria floor for the whole week, on top of ISS. You hear me?"

Both of the guys fall silent, nodding. Mr. Thompson looks over Laura once, frowning a bit. "And you… go on and get to the restroom. I'll send notice to your next teacher that you'll be late. And probably try to find another shirt for you…" He looks over Laura's figure. "If it'll fit."

The security guard goes and ushers the guys to go in another direction. Mack gives them a mean look, with Willis huffing once. Terrance is busy keeping his head low, as if trying to make himself smaller than he already is. Mr. Thompson walks off amid the very quiet cafeteria, with Laura quickly slipping on her sandals and scampering past him and into the hallway. Mack quickly follows the girl into the one of the restrooms. One of the more perceptive students, who was standing in the doorway, blinks and her mouth opens up in surprise when she noticed that the antlers on Laura's head appeared to spark a couple of times.

* * *

Laura sniffles once, finally letting more of her emotions out as Mack helps the chimera with brushing out some of the food from her hair. Both are in the handicap stall, Laura's top is off of her, as she glares angrily at the stained backside of it. Mack glances over Laura's shoulder while using a comb (that the chimera carries with her) to run through some of her feathers and fur on Laura's body.

"Hey, girl. Don't sweat it. Those guys are just assholes. You're lucky that mess didn't get in your hair." Mack starts, in an attempt to break the ice and console her friend.

Laura huffs, shaking her head. "It's been like that since I've got here. Middle school was better than this. Those people at the Home said the kids here wouldn't be doing all this to me. Or so the fat one of the bunch says. Guess it was too much money or something to homeschool me…"

Mack chuckles a bit, running back and forth from the sink to soak some paper towels, before returning to the stall with Laura inside. "Hey, the middle school wasn't that great, either. You just don't know because you only came in for half of the eighth-grade. Besides, I recognize one of the guys who was laughing about that spill. Accident, my ass. His name's Thomas. He was always doing some stupid a few years ago with him and his goons. Seems he only got worse."

Laura whines a bit, trying to wipe out as much of the stain as she can from her top. She sulks as she holds it in front of her, Mack still tending to making sure any more food particles are still clinging onto the chimera-girl's fur. "This sucks… I've only been here a few months, yet I already have enough people treating me like dirt. I just want to get through all of this mess so I can get the hell out of this crazy town."

"I know, girl. Same here… Say, you know you can always fly out of here anytime you choose, right? I mean, you can still fly of course, right?"

Laura glances back, putting a finger to her lips. "Shh! Yeah… I can, but I don't know where I want to go."

Mack blinks at her friend. "Why you shushing me? What's wrong with talking about that?"

Laura shakes her head, flopping her pigtails this way and that. "The only people who know about me being able to fly are you, Joanna, and… Chris." Her voice trails off when she mentions Chris, the nickname of Crystal, one of the girls who Laura considers a close friend, even three years later.

Mack falls quiet, taking a long deep breath. "Yeah… I miss them. And… sorry, Laura."

Laura works up a smile, turning around to Mack. "No, it's fine. Thank you."

Both girls giggle once as they close in for a warm hug, when the door of the stall flies open with a reedy-looking girl taking a Polaroid photograph of the two! Laura and Mack's eyes grow wide in complete shock, as the chimera-girl quickly looks down, realizing she's still top-less, and attempts to cover herself up as fast as she can!

"Juicy! That one's going into the paper!" the wild glasses-wearing girl exclaims, she immediately starts to run off.

Mack growls in anger, prepping to give chase, but glances at Laura with immediate concern. Laura is looking at the camera girl, her eyes wide and a few tears rolling down her furry face, as she screams out at her!

The lights around in the bathroom flicker, with Mack looking around in a panic. The girl who took the Polaroid is already looking at the photo that just printed out, trying to make distance, when a few of the lights over the voyeur mysteriously crack and explode! The girl screams and dives down, covering her head as some of the glass rain down over her. The lights in the rest of the building flicker some more, causing a bit of a stir in some of the classrooms.

After a beat, Mack turns back to Laura, who was quickly putting her top back on. The chimera-girl was clearly embarrassed by what transpired, but she also looks back at Mack, a puzzled expression on her face as she examines the mess of glass over the camera girl. Some of the kids and a few teachers are looking outside the doorways of a few of the classrooms, while a couple of security guards, as well as Mr. Thompson rush down the hallway, just as the voyeur with the camera is standing up, brushing off some of the glass, cutting one of her fingers on a broken bulb.

"**Now **what the hell is going on?" He loudly shouts, looking over the trio of girls.

The girl with the glasses quickly straightens herself, looking over the Polaroid photo. Her eyes widen as she looks over her camera. Her face turns red, as she glares and yells in Laura's direction. "You! You did this! You freaking… freak! You ugly monster! You broke my camera!"

Mr. Thompson grimaces, looking over the camera-wielding girl. "Brenda! **You **better watch your mouth! What did she do? What were you doing out of class?"

Mack steps up in front of Laura, both girls outside of the restroom. "Brenda was sneaking around trying to spy and take pictures of everything she ain't supposed to!"

"So what?! I saw you two getting all friendly and hugging up one another! That thing didn't even have her top on! And I KNOW the way she screamed, she broke the glass over my head AND my camera! You're paying for this, you creep!"

Mr. Thompson looks over Brenda, a scowl on his face. "You'll watch your language and keep a lid on it. Whatever's on that picture is belonging to the office now. Next time you pull such a stunt again, I'll be hearing from your parents about your behavior!"

Brenda's eyes grow wide, and then she actually fumes back at the Vice Principal! "I'm going to tell daddy about this! Just you wait!" The Junior-grade girl stomps off, with one of the security guards quickly following to chat with her. They proceed to have a heated exchange, until Brenda snaps a curse word at the guard, who then quickly marches her to the office.

Mack rubs Laura on her back, as Mr. Thompson approaches the both of them, his eyes falling on the mutant girl. "Did you do this? What happened?"

Laura's violet eyes look back up at the authority figure. "I don't know what happened. Mack was trying to help me out after lunch… and then Brenda was all being evil and taking pictures. We didn't do anything, honest!" Her eyes tremble some, a hint of fear behind them.

Mr. Thompson sighs, looking at Mack. "I'll let this slide, for now. _You _were supposed to be in class, I only gave Laura the permission to take the time to clean herself up. Laura, sorry, we couldn't find an extra shirt for you… we did call the Home for someone to bring you something to replace what you have on."

Mack nods, looking over Laura. Laura's tail moves around behind her, as her wings shake once to get rid of a few loose feathers before tightening back up against her back.

Mr. Thompson continues. "Alright then. Mack, you get to class. Laura, come with me. We'll call the folks at the Home. And perhaps get some clearer answers."

Without another word, Mack waves at Laura before walking down the hallway at a brisk place to the room she's supposed to be in. Laura wipes her eyes with a free arm before following the vice principal down to the office. She squeaks out a question as she and Mr. Thompson enter inside.

"Am I in trouble?"

Thompson looks down at Laura, before shaking his head. "As far as I know, no, you're not. Now go into the restroom over there, I'm going to call the folks at the Home about this."

Laura sighs, feeling defeated in a way, before she goes into the restroom. This one looked cleaner than the others, mostly being for faculty members. She chooses one of the further stalls, locks herself inside of it, then sits on the top of the toilet, doing nothing, until the tears roll down her face.

"I already hate this place."


End file.
